Starlight Tide
by SilverDreamer-PhoenixotD
Summary: When Heartless appear in worlds close to darkness, thirteen year-old Aqua is sent by her master to uncover the source, while also using her time away from home to uncover some dark secrets in the history of the Keyblade Wielders. Multi-chapter, will not be left incomplete.
1. Chapter 1

_For Monty Oum, who never stopped inspiring me and so many others._

**Chapter 1: The Lonely Apprentice**

The Land of Departure was lonely in those days—the old Master Eraqus and a single thirteen-year-old apprentice with long blue hair, in a massive castle. There were few visitors, an occasional keybearer come to seek the resources kept in the massive library, a courier from the nearby town of Caeleris there to deliver food to the castle. It was horribly lonely, especially for a girl like Aqua.

She kept herself busy, to keep from sleeping the days away with boredom. When she wasn't practicing her spellwork, she was sparring against a suit of armor her master had animated, or reading one of the many, many books in the library.

Today, however, she was lucky, have been given permission to go into town. Caeleris was walled, but the guards allowed her in quickly after she identified herself—and presented Rainfell as proof. Caeleris was connected to the castle by a long, winding road and a widespread hilly plain. It was one of a dozen cities in the region, each in control of a hold. That the keybearers lived relatively nearby was just a fact of life—though the policy of non-interference still held for the world of Sidhe.

The town square held a fountain with space to sit and eat ice cream, if one so chose. Aqua had gotten some vanilla with strawberries, and ate it slowly. _It's pricy, maybe, but worth it,_ she thought, licking her spoon clean. _If only because I can't have it often._

The square was bustling with people, and few if any gave more than glance at her. A farmer sold fresh vegetables from her farm, a group of kids bought ice cream from the same old woman Aqua had bought hers from, a crier shouted news brought from across the region, and two town guards stood at attention, each carrying a shield on one arm and a short sword at the waist.

Aqua just watched the people walk by, a couple bickering with each other, some girls playing with their dolls in the shade of the alchemy shop, a pair of men debating the best method of cooling a forged blade, and more. She unconsciously let a magical flame form between her fingertips, chase around her hand and up her arm, and so unaware was she between her own thoughts and people-watching that it took her a moment to notice the little girl, who couldn't have been much older than 8, looking curiously at the flame ringing around Aqua's wrist.

"Are you a fire-dancer?" she asked, snapping Aqua out of her reverie. She looked at the girl and instinctively snuffed out the flame. The girl lowered her head and stepped back shamefully.

Aqua looked from her, to her hand, and closed her fingers. "I don't know anything about dancing, but maybe…" She opened her hand and a fireball formed above her palm. The little girl's eyes lit up as Aqua tossed the fireball into the air, formed another one in each hand, and started juggling them, throwing the fireballs high into the air as she formed even more, never dropping one or burning her hands. By this point she had drawn the eyes of all of the children in the square and most of the adults. The guards were watching closely but didn't seem alarmed.

Aqua carefully extinguished fireballs until only three were left, tossed all three high in the air, and looked at the small crowd that had gathered to watch her. "Might want to stand back!" The children backed up a few steps, grinning and laughing.

As the fireballs started to fall, they exploded into the single shape of a diving hawk. Aqua put a finger to her lips and breathed in sharply. She exhaled, and a gout of flame ten feet high flew from her lips and consumed the hawk. When the flames had cleared, all that was left was ash and smoke. The audience exploded into applause, and Aqua gave an exaggerated bow. "Thank you, thank you!"

The little girl who had first looked at Aqua thanked her profusely before running off to join her friends, and most of the crowd quickly cleared out to get back to work. Some gave her a big grin or a nod or a vocal gratitude for the show. The guard who had been nearer to her show gave her a nod, and walked nearer to her. She pulled off her helm and smiled as she tucked it under her arm. The guard was a woman with dark, curly, natural hair tied back in a tail. "Haven't seen you around before. You're from the castle, one of them keyblade kids?"

"U-um, the only one, at the moment, but yes, I'm Master Eraqus' apprentice," she stammered out.

The guard held up a hand and shook her head. "You don't need to be nervous. That was a good show. And more to the point, I've seen and heard too many stories about the people from that castle being real pieces of work, rude to people cause they have a magic sword. No offense."

"None taken. As for the show, I just like seeing people smile."

The guard nodded. "You're a very polite and kind young woman, and judging by what you can do with that fire you're clearly very skilled to boot. I pity those who would cross you." She replaced her helm. "I'll be sure to spread the word of you to the rest of the guard. You're always welcome in Caeleris, Lady…"

"Aqua, I'm Aqua. Just Aqua. And thanks."

The guard chuckled, and returned to her post.

The next few hours passed without event. Aqua got more ice cream, this time with apple and honey, and the woman selling it confided that she could make so much thanks to skill in ice magic. After finishing it off she spent an hour at the general store getting the supplies that had been missing in the courier's last delivery.

It was approaching 5 when Aqua started considering heading home, and when she noticed a shadow skittering across the ground with no evident source out of the corner of her eye. It wasn't a bird, there wasn't anything in the sky. Whatever it was, it had piqued her curiosity. She walked, but walked quickly, in the direction the shadow had moved.

It led to a small alley behind a row of houses. She turned the corner, and was met with a creature unlike anything she had ever seen. It was small, only slightly taller than her knee, even with its massive antennae. Its humanoid body was entirely black, except for its eyes, which were only golden orbs. It twitched and shook as it shuffled along slowly. _…That's oddly adorable…_ Aqua thought somewhere in the back of her mind. She cocked her head to the side and slowly came nearer to the shadow-creature, her open hand stretched toward it.

Its head snapped upward, its eyes glowed, and it lunged at Aqua with claws outstretched. It dug into her leg, sending excruciating pain through body. More than that, it felt like it was sucking the warmth out of her body just by touching her. Aqua dropped back a step, her leg throbbing with pain, and in a flash of light Rainfell came to her hand. She swept upwards, landed a solid hit on the creature, and it flew ten feet away. On impact with the ground it burst into black embers, and a crystalline red mass rose from the smoke. Just before it vanished, Aqua saw that it was in the shape of a heart, tinted with deep darkness.

"What in the world!?" She saw two more autonomous shadows gliding across the ground. They rose from the voids into the same kind of creature, but this time Aqua was ready.

"Reflect!" A honeycomb barrier appeared around her, and the moment one of the creatures tried to lunge at her it exploded into fragments, annihilating both. _There's no way that's the last of them._ And like she was psychic, a woman's scream came from the town square.

With a word, the wind carried Aqua back to the square, where a dozen of the shadow creatures were going after the townsfolk. The guards were having little luck doing their duty, their steel swords passing through the creatures like they were smoke. It was all the six that were there could do to try and get people away from the creatures.

"Get back!" Aqua cast a fire bolt at one about to lunge at a guard, and it was vaporized. "All of you, get out of here, I can destroy them! Protect the civilians!"

With carefully placed spells and strikes, she destroyed ten rapidly. They were numerous, and steel had no effect on them, but weak enough to destroy with ease once she could focus on the fight. She turned to face the other side of the square, and was just quick enough to see one of the creatures attack the woman who had been selling ice cream. Ice fragments covered the ground where she had cast them, but she wasn't a battlemage. The creature's clawed hand phased into her chest, and pulled out the same-looking heart as she had seen come from the others upon their destruction. The old woman's face was frozen with terror, her mouth open with her last scream, never breaking eye contact with Aqua until the hollow shell of her body faded away into oblivion.

_What in the light are these things?_

The creature that had stolen the old woman's heart danced away, and vanished into the aether. The others were encroaching on her, but Aqua's mind went blank. The Rainfell had always been an extension of her arm, but now it was more likely dead weight, nothing more than a piece of metal. A cold hand touched her back, and she could not will her body to move.

"Away, demon!" A sharp gale flew through the town, and she felt the cold hand vanish. Her keyblade hanging loosely at her side, she turned.

Master Eraqus stood tall and proud, moving his keyblade back to a proper position. He stepped, and became a wisp of wind. Spears of light struck through and annihilated each of the creatures in a blink of an eye. Just as quickly, he appeared before his student.

"Aqua, are you alright?"

Her head and heart hurt, she was cold to the bone, and felt on the verge of tears of frustration and fear. The Rainfell vanished. "Master, what were those creatures?"

"I thought those books you read so much would have mentioned the Heartless countless times," Eraqus said coolly, flipping through the pages of one of the many tomes in the library of the Land of Departure.

Aqua scratched the back of her head. "They did, sure, but…I never knew what they looked like." Aqua almost said "The books never mentioned they'd be so adorable" but she wasn't sure what Master Eraqus would think of that observation. Instead, she said "And I was in shock.

"I never expected to ever even see a Heartless, besides. According to the books, the Heartless under normal circumstances never enter the Realm of Light." And like that, something clicked. Eraqus stayed silent to let her continue. "Of course, they _have_ entered the Realm of Light before. The Heartless are instinctual creatures, but can be guided by a powerful force into enacting that force's desires. The Incompletes, the Crystalli…" _The Pax Obscura_, she thought, but knew better than to mention it to her Master.

She continued. "So if Heartless are in the Realm of Light, it follows that someone or something brought them here. But who, or what?"

"Precisely the question," Eraqus said. He laced his fingers together. "I've had my suspicions for a time, now, that someone is trying to move on the Realm of Light. Master Xehanort sent me a letter telling of dark whispers he had heard on his journeys. But that someone would sent the Heartless after a keyblade apprentice in the Land of Departure, it's an individual who seeks war." He set one hand on the desk, and looked to Aqua directly. "As the bearer of Master's Defender, I must stay here, unable to directly investigate. Therefore, I have decided to send you to uncover the force controlling the Heartless."

Aqua's heart skipped a beat. Training took over and she automatically bowed to Master Eraqus and said "It would be my honor" while her thoughts were gleeful. _Investigate? That's leaving! Leaving this castle and seeing other worlds, seeing other people, fighting the Heartless every step of the way! I never thought I'd ever leave this rock!_

"This is not a task to be taken lightly," Eraqus said. "It is my wish that you travel to those worlds which lay on the edge of the Realm of Light, touching darkness. The forces which control the Heartless will be stronger there, but Darkness is in every person and every brick. It can consume the unwary. But I know that you have the willpower to resist the darkness. To aid you in this, I have a gift for you."

Eraqus reached outward and drew a small semicircle in the air with his index finger. A faint light followed his gesture. "Hear the wind, speak the words, listen, and obey, Lesser Summoning," he intoned. A small chest with ornate decorations appeared on the desk. Gold filigree chased across the surface, forming an emblem of a crown set onto a teardrop-shaped shield.

Aqua slowly set one hand on the surface of the chest, and summoned her keyblade. With the barest touch, the lock snapped open. Pieces of armor lay on a bed of straw within. She carefully pulled the pieces out, a set of greaves for her shins, steel vambraces for her wrists, a shirt of chain mail, and a cloth tabard, deep blue with silver trim, bearing an emblem of her Master's keyblade overlaid on a long silver shield, on the night sky field. A shiver went down her spine.

"This armor is your own, bonded to your heart and keyblade. After donning it the first time, you will be able to summon it to your person at your desire," Eraqus said, as Aqua adjusted the straps on the vambraces. "Be aware, however, that for all the skill of the old smiths, Keyblade Armor is not impenetrable, nor is it as necessarily magical as the keyblade itself—if the armor is damaged, it must be repaired by hand. It can save your life if need be, but more important is its other quality, to repel the darkness from your heart. The Lanes Between lay close to the darkness, and those who forgo armor risk falling into darkness.

"Aqua, I hope I don't need to tell you that keyblade armor is a gift, and a privilege to own. It, and the other teachings I have given you, are to be used to fend off danger," Eraqus said. "Not for entertaining children."

Aqua finished snapping her vambrace into place. She turned to face her master. His expression was stern. "We are keyblade bearers, not charlatans."

She couldn't resist snapping back with "You're right. I'm not a charlatan, it's real magic. I took a couple minutes casting some spells to make some children laugh. I know the difference between putting on a show and abusing a gift for my own purposes, Master."

Eraqus sighed in frustration. "The Lanes Between will lead you to the worlds within the Realm of In-Between. Go speak to Master Yen Sid. His tower lies on the edge, and he may know more of what is happening. Go, and be safe."

* * *

_A/N: Credit to Shire Folk, author of the fic series 'The Annals of Darkness', for the design of the acolyte armor. Because thirteen-fourteen year olds shouldn't be wearing full plate, it's just a weird mental image._

_I make no promises about quality or length of the writing (although this is one of the shorter chapters), but I will say that I will not leave this fic unfinished-it has already been written in full, and just needs editing for clarity and grammar. I haven't deeply considered the update schedule, but I'd say that once a week is a safe bet._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The Lanes Between**

The Keyblade Armor was less uncomfortable than Aqua might have expected. The chainmail, made of thousands of steel rings, rested over a padded shirt. The leather linings of the silvery-blue vambraces and greaves were tough, sufficiently such that she would be able to break in the material. The armor was very light, but it was still relatively awkward having even a little more weight on her arms and legs, when her agility was one of her greatest strengths. It would take time before she would be able to fight armored.

As she flew through the Lanes, Aqua cursed to herself. _I used a little fire magic, so what? Why is everything I do so bad in Master Eraqus' eyes? He's the one who sent me to Caeleris, I've never been able to be there for so long. I just wanted to do something else for a change. Connect with people. The keyblade is a weapon of the heart, but what's the point of having a heart if you can't connect to those of others?_

She shifted her leg forward, willed the Glider's prow to become a bow, and took aim at the Bit Snipers fluttering toward her on bat wings. She focused all of her frustration into each arrow, and annihilated each before they could so much as hope to attack her. It did little to make her stop thinking.

"Just like the Pax Obscura again…" she muttered.

She went back to the memory again, the only time she had seen Master Eraqus truly angry. It was maybe two years earlier, and started with one of the many books in the library. It was a journal, from a keyblade master three generations before hers, which made a passing mention of a period of time called the "Pax Obscura". The Hidden Peace. It had been a difficult journal to read, as it made many references to politics of the time that weren't detailed, but the words sounded interesting, and Aqua had always been curious. She had tied her long blue hair up with a ribbon, tucked the journal under her arm, and went to find her master to ask him about it.

She only had to say the words, and his eyes went dark. He took the journal, and told her "The Pax Obscura is of no relevance to your training or to the modern day. Leave it be."

She tried to explain it as just being curious, and he slammed the journal down on his desk and snapped at her, told her to go back to the studies he had assigned to her, and she fled. The library was barred from the inside for weeks afterwards, and when she had finally been allowed to return she noticed two dozen books missing from one of the shelves in the back. Whatever the Pax Obscura was, he didn't want her knowing anything about it.

_…I wonder if Master Yen Sid might know anything about the Pax Obscura_, Aqua thought, then quickly brushed it aside. Yen Sid had been Eraqus' master, and if not of the same attitude would at least tell her master that she had gone behind his back.

_Just keep flying, and don't let your guard down. Master Eraqus trusts me to find the source of this darkness._

* * *

As was promised, the Lanes Between led her to a small wizard's tower on the very edge of the Realm of Light. The portal that let Aqua enter the world space had vanished. Ten feet above the ground Aqua willed her keyblade to return to its usual form, and landed carefully on a gust of wind. She smoothed out her tabard and ran a hand through her hair. The sky overhead was a flood of colors. Before her was a crooked wizard's tower, and behind was a train track floating in midair, stretching around the sky island and into the distance.

Aqua took a deep breath, and started up the tower. Animate brooms cleaned the tower, sweeping up dust, organizing books, and cleaning the windows. They did nothing to indicate they even knew she was there. It was quiet, like the Land of Departure, but was still rather cozy, and there was a certain warmth to the rooms.

At the door to the study, Aqua knocked with the brass knocker. The door swung open of its own accord. Within, three people had ceased their conversation to look at the new guest.

Aqua was taken aback at one. "Master Xehanort?"

The old man smiled slightly. His golden eyes looked her over. "So Eraqus sent his apprentice after all," he said in a voice like shattered stone scraped together. "I trust your journey went well?"

"I…thank you, it went fine. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt," she said meekly. Xehanort had always had an intimidating aura, just as he had been old as long as Aqua had known him. But there was a change to him. The first person in the room had been Master Yen Sid, the second Master Xehanort, but the third was a boy Aqua did not know. He was young, ten years old at best, with messy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. A one-handed sword hung at his waist. He stood silently, staring at the floor. _Maybe a wizard's apprentice? Master Xehanort is a great mage, after all._..

"You did not interrupt, we were just finishing our discussion," said Master Yen Sid. He interlaced his fingers. "I will keep your information in mind, Xehanort. Safe travels, to you and your apprentice."

Xehanort gave an exaggerated bow to his former master. "Come, boy."

The boy nodded. "Yes, Master. Goodbye, Master Yen Sid, and…"

"Aqua," she said, smiling gently. "I'll see you around."

Xehanort and his apprentice left. The door shut with a _boom._ Aqua turned back to Master Yen Sid. She tucked her hair behind her ear. "Thank you for allowing me to come speak to you, Master Yen Sid."

Yen Sid nodded, and waved a hand. A chair appeared on the opposite side of the desk from his own, and he invited her to sit. He stroked his beard as he said "So, the dark approaches."

Aqua nodded. "Master Eraqus sent me to speak to you. After the Heartless appeared in the Land of Departure, he asked that I identify whatever or whomever is controlling them. I wonder if you know anything about the encroaching darkness?"

Master Yen Sid breathed out heavily. "I know much, and more, but little of use to you. My tower may exist on the edge of the realm of light, but it still lies closer to the light than darkness," he said. "However, I believe I may know where you might continue your search.

"Recall the road which connects the castle at the Land of Departure to the city of Caeleris and beyond, stemming from the oddity of the relationship between the world of the Land of Departure, and the world of Sidhe. Two worlds, so physically near to one another that it becomes possible to travel from one to another without the need for magic. My tower is similarly tied to another world, by the train tracks you may have seen upon arrival. Twilight Town is on the other side, a world that lies directly on the line which separates light from dark. There, you may find better clues as to who is controlling the Heartless." He steepled his fingers. "Before you leave, however, I would like to speak to you."

Aqua hid her surprise and momentary fear, and said "Yes, sir?" Stick to the courtesies, what tradition demanded of her, and it would be alright.

Master Yen Sid allowed a slight smile to come onto his usually-stoic features. "Firstly, I wish to congratulate you on receiving your armor. As you know, to receive armor from one's master is symbolic in our order of having achieved a certain measure of adulthood, and being trusted to take on missions for the first time. You achieved the requirements that tradition would have mandated even earlier than this, had you been a part of the old Keyblade Knights."

Aqua blushed, and smiled. She quickly bowed in her seat, the rings of her chain shirt jangling. "Thank you, Master Yen Sid. It's…an honor."

Yen Sid nodded. "Secondly. I would ask you, what are your thoughts on Master Xehanort?"

Aqua was taken aback by the blunt question. It took her a moment to realize that her mouth was hanging open. She shut it quickly, and brought her hand to the back of her head. "Xehanort? He's…um…I'm only a kid, I don't know anything…"

"Aqua, both you and I know that you may be only a girl, but you are also wise beyond your years. You may speak freely, and need not fear your words leaving this room," Yen Sid said gently.

Aqua hesitated, and bit her lip. "Master Xehanort…he's powerful, and intimidating." _Not a lie._ "He's a great mage, but also a skilled swordsman," she said. A memory came unbidden, of short fight between Master Eraqus and Master Xehanort. Her master hadn't known that she was watching from a balcony, but she was, and she had seen it all, though she hadn't been able to hear what they were arguing about. "He's powerful, and very aware of that power."

The statements before, Yen Sid knew, but the last seemed to surprise him. "Aware of his own power?"

Aqua carefully nodded. "Like, Master Yen Sid, I know that you're powerful because my Master told me the kinds of things you've done. But you maintain enough control over your magic that if you weren't dressed as you are—ah, I'm sorry! But I mean, you seem like a normal human, is what I mean, while Master Xehanort, he doesn't control his power at all. It flows out of him in waves, or I guess pulses that go in time with his heartbeat. I've learned to sense magic in the air, but it seems almost impossible that somebody without that training couldn't detect his power, it just seems to weigh down the air around him." Aqua unconsciously gripped the edges of the chair.

Yen Sid ran a hand down his beard, his eyes closed in thought. He opened his eyes, and watched Aqua for a moment. The girl was shifting back and forth in her seat, playing with a loose string on her shirt, looking over to the side at a stack of books on a shelf—anything to avoid looking directly at Master Yen Sid.

_Not only is she the only student to her master, but she could well be the last keyblade wielder of her generation,_ he considered. Yen Sid knew much of Aqua, more than she was aware that he knew. She was a prodigy of sorts, having been chosen by her keyblade when she was less than eight years old. After an incursion of darkness in the world where she had been trained along with twelve other young keyblade initiates, she was the only survivor among seven masters and thirteen students—how she had survived, he did not know, as she never spoke of it. Aqua had then been taken in by Master Eraqus, one of the few remaining keyblade masters, and she had been his apprentice since she was eight years old.

Every time Yen Sid had seen the girl, she had seemed terrified of being punished for any slight infraction against tradition or courtesy. He could see the potential Aqua had to achieve great things, but a part of him feared that whatever trauma she had experienced, whether it was that dark day or something before it, would keep her from ever accomplishing what everyone who met her knew she was capable of.

Yen Sid closed his eyes again. From the folds of his robes, he produced a multiple-page treatise, rolled up, tied with a ribbon, and sealed with red wax. "A gift, to celebrate your accomplishments. This scroll contains information on illusory magic. Use it well." Aqua stood, and allowed a small smile as she took the treatise and tucked it into her belt.

"Thank you, Master Yen Sid," she said, bowing again.

Yen Sid gave wide sweeping gesture towards the door. "Now go. The train knows the way."


	3. Welcome to Twilight Town

_A/N: I'm gonna put a reminder in my calendar to update this story damn it._

**Chapter 3: Welcome to Twilight Town**

Aqua stepped onto the platform, and breathed in deeply. A conductor was checking tickets for another, mundane train. He looked up at the young woman, and winked. "Welcome to Twilight Town, miss."

"Thanks," she said with a smile. Behind her, the doors of the magical train shut, and pulled out of the station of its own accord.

She stepped out of the station, and looked up to the twilit sky in awe.

This wasn't the medieval Caeleris, nor the shimmering Garden that was her birthplace, but something else entirely. The sky was painted with wide brushstrokes of every shade of red, orange, and yellow. The roads were laid with red brick, the houses packed tightly together the same material. There were people everywhere, children and teenagers chasing after each other with wooden swords. The clocktower that stretched high above the station chimed 3 o' clock. When Aqua looked down over the edge of the station courtyard, she realized that Twilight Town was perched on a mountain. In the distance, she could see countless train tracks suspended over the valley.

"More of a city than a town, I guess." She could see another town, deep in the valley, and far out in the west she could just make out an ocean. "Wonder what it's like down on the beach."

Master Yen Sid had been vague as to what she might find in Twilight Town, so it was left to her to investigate.

It was an end-of-summer sort of heat, but the citizens of Twilight Town paid it no mind, and went about their business as usual. Aqua walked through the streets, keeping to the side of the road, never meeting anyone's eyes, avoiding making her close scrutiny of the streets too obvious. Easier to not interfere if nobody realizes you're not supposed to be there.

Aqua walked along the streets for an hour, and the sun skirted the horizon the whole way. No sign of anything off. No Heartless, anywhere.

_Couldn't hurt to take a quick break,_ she thought, as her feet felt like they were going to give out on her. As she came into a square where a group of kids were playing with squirt guns, she plopped down on a bench, and reached into the small pouch on her hip. The size was deceiving, as it held three potions, a handful of granola bars, a canteen, two thousand munny, three magic charms with arcane runes on them, and the new scroll that Master Yen Sid had given her.

The last of them all, Aqua pulled out and broke the seal on the treatise. She carefully unrolled the stack of papers. At the top of the first page was written in a steady hand: A Discussion Pertaining to the Manipulation of Light. "So, it's not mental illusions then?" she said to herself, recalling what Yen Sid had said about it.

She started reading the first page. The treatise was the work of a man called Illos, Son of Damara, but it was transcribed by his apprentice, a woman called Rill, whose interjections in the margins seemed just as fascinating as the writing itself. Either Illos son of Damara had a good sense of humor, or he was an illiterate illusionist, because half of Rill's comments consisted of her picking on his pronunciation or absurd hand gestures as he dictated.

As she read through the first page's introduction, she was so absorbed in it she barely noticed a group of kids running through the sandlot together. A boy with a dragon on his shirt led the pack, calling out to his friends to hurry up. After him came a tall girl with bells jangling from the hem of her shirt, helping a short silver-haired boy dressed in orange, and the girl with bells called out to the last of their group.

Aqua paid them no mind as she stood up with the treatise in one hand, a granola bar in the other. She stood with her legs a bit wider than shoulder-width apart, and held out one arm to mimic an illustration on the second page.

Just as she reached out, the last member of the group of kids came running past her, too fast to stop himself before he got clotheslined on her outstretched arm. He flailed his arms and caught Aqua in the face, the smack dropping her to the ground right alongside him. Her head hit the cement with an audible _crack!_

"Oooooh…" she moaned, grabbing the side of her head in pain.

"Come on, Terra, hurry it up!"

"Hold on a second! Hey, are you okay? I'm so sorry! How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Uh…" Aqua pushed herself up, and looked at the boy. She felt like she was underwater, looking up at him above the surface. Three of him swirled in a circle, but she finally managed to get her eyes to focus on just the one real one. "Four? Uh, it's okay…" She finally got a good look at the boy. He had shaggy brown hair that stuck up in the front, skin tanned from days in the sun, and deep blue eyes. The boy (_Terra,_ she thought, recalling the name the other boy had called out) couldn't have been more than a year older than she was, although he was significantly taller.

Terra offered her a hand, and she took it gratefully. With an easy movement, he pulled her onto her feet. The pages of the treatise were held roughly in one hand.

"I'm sorry again, I wasn't paying attention where I was running."

"No, it's fine, I wasn't paying attention myself."

Terra laughed awkwardly. "Hey, uh, I haven't seen you around here before, you new in town?"

"I…yeah, I guess I am," Aqua said. _Just play along, and then get going._

"So then are you coming to the high school this summer? You know about the summer assignment?"

"Uh," Aqua replied.

"Well it doesn't matter if you're a transfer student, I've seen people get chewed out for less. Come on, you can work with us on it, if you like!" Terra was smiling big, and looked over to where his friends were running up a set of stairs.

One part of Aqua knew that this had little to do with her own assignment, but another part felt a strange draw to this boy, and some odd instinct made her believe he might bring her closer to the answers she was looking for.

And a third part just wanted to maybe see what it was like, to not be a keyblade apprentice for a day.

"Okay, thanks!" She stuck out her hand. "I'm Aqua. Nice to meet you."

Terra took her hand and shook it. "I'm Terra. Come on, let's go catch up with them!"

The stairs led to an alleyway, where Terra's friends were waiting.

"Come on, man, what took so long?" said the boy with the dragon shirt on. He had long blond hair, tied back in a ponytail, and his skin was pale, despite the sun. Both his shirt and pants were violet in color, with black accents on the pockets of his shorts and on the hems.

"Calm down, Kain, I was just helping out Aqua. She's new in town and I offered to let her come along with us," Terra said, putting a hand to the back of his neck.

The girl with bells on the hem of her lilac shirt and yellow skirt smiled brightly. "Sounds good, as long as you put in your share of the work on the paper. I'm Chime."

The other boy with long platinum hair and a vest over his chest decorated with three adjacent squares in a column, smiled as well. He looked closer to Aqua's age than he did Terra, Kain, or Chime. "I'm Luneth, but everyone calls me Onion."

Aqua hesitated for a moment, deciding whether or not she wanted to know, before curiosity overcame her. "Um. Why Onion?"

Kain rolled his eyes as he went to a gated-up entryway that descended into the underground. He had heard this story before, evidently.

"I've got a little brother, he's a few years younger than me," Luneth started, as he, Aqua, Chime, and Terra followed Kain into the underground concourse. "Well one day, at lunch, I heard him yelling out from all the way across the room. Apparently instead of packing a sandwich in his lunch, he'd gotten a whole onion. I just kind of ignored him, eating my salad, but out of the blue his onion comes sailing across the lunchroom and lands right on the tip of my knife, even sinks in an inch.

"I stormed across the room to tell him to stop making a scene, he started yelling at me, and I waved the onion-knife in his face. I guess it looked weird enough that everyone started calling me the Onion Knight with his Onion Sword." Luneth smiled, and Aqua couldn't help herself from laughing at the mental image—and then she crossed that story with her own knowledge, and the mental image of a keyblade with an onion theme (complete with the ability to disable enemies with the smell) nearly sent her into hysterics.

Kain glanced back over his shoulder, rolled his eyes again, and said "You're so proud of that nickname, I don't get it."

As Luneth kept chattering away, Aqua dropped back to talk to Terra at the end of the line. "So, what is it that you and your friends are looking for down here?"

"Well," Terra started, "One of the stories floating around town says that there's a ghost that haunts the concourse. This area used to get a lot more foot traffic, especially in the winter, since this part of town wasn't built for cars. So, there's a ghost, of a young woman, dressed all in black, who appears at sundown, in the darkest part of the concourse."

"Hm. Well, I don't know anything about ghosts, but it sounds interesting," Aqua said, more out of fascination with stories than an actual belief in ghosts.

"Yeah, so our paper's all about the story of the ghost, the different stories people pass around about it, and topped off with an account of seeing whether the ghost is real or not." Terra had been counting off on his fingers the points of the paper, and ended on that one, number three. "Also…you should know," he said in a somewhat quieter tone. "These guys, I'm not really their friend? I mean, they're friends with each other, and we go to school together. They just asked me to come because I'm strong enough to open the gate to the old concourse." He averted his eyes to avoid Aqua's gaze.

"Hey, Terra," Aqua said gently. She looked over at Kain, Chime, and Luneth, the latter two bugging the first about some comment he had made. "I…I'll be honest, I've been alone for a lot of my life, but when I look at the four of you, I see a group of people who have bonded over a shared experience, who talk to each other and help each other out when they need it. That looks a whole lot like friendship to me."

Terra looked to Aqua, and away again. He didn't respond, didn't seem like he had heard her. His brows were knitted together in his thoughts. Aqua took a deep breath, and kept walking.

The walls of the concourse were covered in old paint. The ground was cement, sloping down slightly. The sides of the walkway were dry at the moment, but in a storm the shallow trenches could carry rainwater down the mountain.

"Man it's dark!" Kain exclaimed. "Why didn't anyone bring a flashlight?!"

And it was true, Aqua could barely see the person in front of her as they went down further. "Hold on, I can get it." She held out one hand, and said "Branching Lights." Magic sparked along her fingertips and formed small thorns that gently rested on her hand without harming her—from the thorns came motes of light that spread out around them, through the passageway, and far into the dim tunnel. It was not a lot of light, but it required very little energy expenditure, would fade away within an hour, and was enough to walk by.

"Whoa," Chime said, her eyes wide at the display, before looking back at Aqua. "What was that?"

"Just a little trick I picked up," Aqua said, brushing the thorns off of her hand.

Terra was holding his hand up in the air, cupping a handful of motes in wonder. They moved away from his hand from the miniscule changes in the movement of the air. "That's amazing."

They walked on, now through the cloud of light motes. Kain led them to the right at an intersection, and a hundred feet down the odd party came to an old, rusted chain link gate, locked with a slightly newer padlock. Just the rust on the gate looked like enough to keep anyone out.

"Why's it locked like that?" Aqua asked, as Chime pulled a bobby pin out of her hair and a screwdriver out of her pocket to pick the lock.

"It wasn't until a couple years ago, kids used to play hide and seek down here a lot," Kain said. "It's great for it, but there's a lot of drops and catwalks. Some kid fell off a platform and broke his arm. Bunch of parents petitioned the city council to lock it up."

"So...if that's where the ghost is supposed to appear, then wouldn't it be obvious from your paper that you had gone into an area that had been locked up?"

"The ghost sightings have been all over the place," he said with a shrug. "They were just most common down in this area, before it was blocked off. Might as well increase our chances best as we can."

Chime grunted in frustration, and Aqua was just about to offer to unlock the padlock with her keyblade when it came open with a _click_.

"Nice," Terra said with a smile. "And this is where I come in."

He stepped up to the rusted gate, wrapped his hands around the horizontal crossbar, and pushed with all of his strength. The hinges were rusted through, holding them stiff, and decayed wires had gotten wound around the chain links, holding it shut.

With a good heave, Terra pushed the door open, snapping the coat of rust off the top hinge and breaking the bottom hinge off completely. The door swung open, and tilted at an angle by the remaining hinge.

"Nice, yourself, where'd you get that kind of strength?" Chime said, the bells on her shirt ringing as she put the bobby pin back in her hair.

Terra smiled, walking off with them, but Aqua hung back a second, examining the gate. The cross bar was slightly dented, imprints in the shape of two large hands in it. She checked the bottom hinge that had broken off. The force had torn the thick pin entirely in half. Terra was built well, that Aqua wouldn't deny, but even with the leverage and the rust it shouldn't have been possible for him to tear apart that kind of steel.

_There's something interesting going on here, but it's no ghost_, Aqua thought. She picked up the remains of the pin and stuffed it in her pocket.

"Come on, Aqua, down here!" Luneth called.

"Coming!"


	4. Earthshaker

**Chapter 4: Earthshaker**

Aqua caught up to the others, and Luneth had pulled out a map, and pointed out what he claimed was the epicenter of the spectral activity (Aqua took it to mean that it was the most common location for sightings of the supposed ghost).

"Right around this chamber," Chime said, looking around.

"All that's left to do is wait, and see if the ghost shows up," Kain said, and with that he sat himself down on the cement with his legs crossed.

They followed his example, each taking a seat on the ground. While the others talked, Aqua made a sphere of light in the palm of her hand, and pulled out the illusion treatise to continue looking over it.

A few pages in, Chime said to Aqua: "Whatcha reading?"

"Um…" Aqua lifted her hand, and let the light hang in midair. "It's a scroll about illusions."

"Like, magic tricks?"

"No, not quite like that. It's like…well, okay, so there's two kinds of illusions somebody can create, there's illusions that exist only in your head, which are harder to disbelieve because your brain can fill in the gaps, and then there's real illusions, which is a really bad way to say it, but it's illusions that are made by bending light and creating artificial sounds. What I'm reading is about the second type," Aqua explained.

Chime nodded. "So the second kind is easier to disbelieve, because you can look at an image and see the imperfections. But if it's not as good, why use the second type? Is it easier to create?"

"Not really. Actually, bending light is pretty difficult, I'm still figuring that out…" Aqua trailed off, mumbling to herself. She shook her head and spoke up. "But it's got upsides too, it can be seen by more than one person at a time. And, some things aren't well affected by mental illusions, like animals—" _Or the heartless,_ she added mentally. "—so you can use the second type to confuse them, at least."

"Huh. Well, has that scroll of yours been helpful at all?"

"Yeah, actually," Aqua said, narrowing her eyes at the treatise. "There's actually this really interesting part in here, about ways of supplementing illusions using other forms of magic, like using that same light to give an illusory body the semblance of a presence."

Chime blinked, and that blank stare from her, Luneth, and Kain gave her the clue that magic was far less prominent on this world than it was in Caeleris or the world of her birth. The idea of giving an illusory body an energy signature was as foreign to them as soda pop was to her.

"Where'd you say you were transferring from, Aqua?" Terra asked, tilting his head in curiosity.

"Town down south of here," Aqua said, trying her best to be as vague as possible. "There was…an old man, his name is Yen Sid, he taught me a lot of what I know about magic, although this and that—" She gestured to the motes of light and the hanging sphere "—is all that I ever learned how to do."

The first part was true, to a degree. Master Yen Sid had indeed taught her about light magic on one of his visits to the Land of Departure. The second half was a complete lie, as she could do far, far more than make some pretty lights, but she didn't want to push the limits on these guys' worldviews.

She was fortunate in that regard, as the source-less shadows crawling up the walls gave the perfect distraction.

Kain was the first to notice the crawling darkness rearing up behind Aqua. He jumped up onto his feet. "The ghost!"

Aqua jumped up and spun around to where he was staring. "That's no ghost…"

The shadow pulled itself away from the wall into a three-dimensional shape the size of a man. Its body was all darker than black, violet veins running across its skin, massive antenna twitching in the air behind its head. Its eyes were twin yellow orbs.

Its head twitched towards Aqua, to look at the glowing orb of light floating in her hand, and raised a clawed hand high into the air.

"Guard!" she shouted, and a honeycomb shield rose in front of her. The monster's claws struck the shield and bounced back, the momentum carrying it back against the wall.

Two more Heartless of the same species appeared behind them, rising from puddles of dark energy. "Run! Now!"

Kain, Chime, and Luneth didn't have to be told twice—they were running screaming when Aqua's shield had come up. But still standing behind her was Terra. Aqua glanced over her shoulder, keeping the shield up.

His eyes were wide with fear, but he had his feet spread and arms up on either side of his face like he was ready to fight hand-to-hand with a Neo-Shadow.

Aqua swept her hand out to the side, and in a flash of blue light the keyblade came to her. Its shape was abstract, the guard curving in an oval from the base of the handle and not fully connecting to the pommel. The blade was formed of an elongated hourglass shape, and the teeth of the keyblade was a simple triangle with a missing edge parallel to the blade, and several teeth jutting out from the other two edges. Its token was a teardrop-shaped blue gemstone. Her Rainfell was adapted to her own style—the keyblade was as light as possible, the handle only fitting one hand, leaving the other free to cast.

With a wordless gesture, the orb of light that Aqua had created flared, and dashed straight for the Neo-shadow as her barrier came down. It cut right through the center of the heartless, and the monster erupted into a cloud of black smoke.

"Terra, you need to get out of here," Aqua said, moving smoothly around him to face the next heartless.

"Huh-uh, I don't know what these things are, but I'm not leaving a friend alone!" Terra shouted. Both of the Neo-shadows leaped at once. Aqua raised her keyblade to parry the strike, while Terra yelled out and ran at the other with his shoulder out, and pushed it back into the wall.

"Thunder!" Bolts of lightning struck first the one in front of Aqua, finishing it off, and she went for the other that Terra had knocked off balance. He moved aside, and she drove the tip of the keyblade right through where its heart would have been.

Three more Neo-Shadows appeared at the other side of the room.

_Idiot, he isn't going to leave unless I do, I can't let him get hurt_. She remembered just twelve hours ago, the ice-cream woman being robbed of her heart, and her decision was solidified. "Come on, let's go!"

Both took off in the opposite direction of the Heartless, back towards the gate. As they made it through the portal, Aqua clenched one fist and said "Wall!" A cloud of mist gathered over the gate and became a wall of ice ten inches thick blocking it.

As they came to the intersection, Aqua slowed down for only a moment to look down to the left.

Waiting in the dim light was a black creature that made Aqua's heart skip a beat. It floated off the ground with small demonic wings, had huge horns coming up from its head, and in one hand, it held a jagged violet broadsword.

"Come on, this way! There's a passage that lets out near Market Street!" Terra shouted, pulling Aqua straight through the intersection.

Aqua's lungs were already starting to burn. Running away from the danger was never part of her training. If there were Heartless or similar monsters, you stand and fight, else they would only continue to hunt you down. All of her physical training had been focused on increasing her magical energy reserves and training her skills. _Should make a change to that_, she thought.

Two more Heartless appeared ahead of them in the straight passage. "Out of my way!" She leaped forward with a massive gust of wind, her hands surrounded with fire. "Fira!" Twin fireballs erupted from her palms as the Neo-Shadows leaped towards her, each getting torched to ashes and black smoke. She landed, palms out to brace her impact, head bowed toward the ground. Terra caught up with her and she stopped him.

"What, what's the issue?"

"Your arm," she said, examining the scratches along his bicep that were leaking blood and black smoke.

"It's fine, that thing just scratched me a bit when I tackled it," Terra said, brushing it off.

"No, even if it doesn't take your heart, injuries from the Heartless can fester into dark wounds. I'll get it now, instead of later," she said. "Heal." Green light filled the scratches, and white lily petals draped down and turned to dust. He sighed at the relief of the pain.

"So, the Heartless?"

"Creatures of darkness that seek only to destroy the light by stealing people's hearts," she said. "Normally, they can't enter the realm of light, but here they are. My master sent me to find out why they're attacking people."

They started walking again, taking a breather since the Heartless weren't appearing like they had been before. "The Heartless are monsters that work on instinct. The only thing they feel is fear, fear of the light, and of the keyblade. It's the only weapon that can cleanse their heart of darkness, and release it to Kingdom Hearts."

Terra put a hand to the back of his neck. "I can't say that I really understand, Aqua, but if there's any way I can help, just ask, I'm right here with you."

Aqua made a small flame in her hand to see by, as the Branching Lights were already fading. "Let's just get to this exit you mentioned."

As she spoke, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Something was coming. "And quickly, too."

Terra and Aqua headed down the hall, around a left-hand corner, up a sloping incline for a hundred feet, then up a ladder and onto a landing that appeared to be a dead end, the ceiling less than six feet above the landing.

"Come on, it's right here," Terra murmured, feeling around against the ceiling with open palms. Aqua lifted her magic fire, and could barely see a seam running along the ceiling. Terra muttered a thanks as he started to push against the ceiling. "Come on, ha!"

Sunlight streaked in as the seam cracked open. A bit of dirt and grass fell on their faces, and Aqua realized that the hatch had been hidden beneath turf. Terra pulled himself up and out, and Aqua followed with a whisper of "Aerora" that aided her vault.

They came out in a wood that Aqua wouldn't have thought existed in the brick-and-mortar town. Light came down through the trees that was enough to see by, although it would be pitch black in the wood by nightfall.

"I think we're clear," Terra said. "This way." He took a step forward. At the instant his foot touched the ground, Shadows appeared from dark portals and started coming for them. "These things again!"

Aqua cursed, and summoned the Rainfell again. "Ice Spike!" As she brought a closed fist downward, ice crystals formed in the air and crashed down, knocking the Shadows away. "Come on!" she shouted, as she started running to the North, where the tree line thinned. _If I can just get into a more open area, I can pull out some real magic and get rid of these things! I've got all the magic in the world but I can't do a thing without line of sight!_

"Wait, you're going the wrong way!"

Aqua replied by grabbing Terra's wrist and pulling him along, and they burst into the clearing, which revealed the front gate of a massive, decrepit old mansion. Aqua turned, said "Stay behind me," and got into a position to fight the approaching Heartless.

She wouldn't get the opportunity.

Just as she prepared to release a flurry of fire, ice, and lightning upon the Heartless, a series of shots rang out. Light blue magical bullets struck through the shadows, reducing them to smoke.

"Watch yourselves!" called out a voice from far behind her. Aqua turned, and scanned the roof of the mansion. There, on the right side, she was able to see what looked to be an old man, holding a rifle. "Into the mansion! Quickly!"

"Alright!" She changed the grip on her keyblade, so that the teeth were pointing down. The old man prepared to fire again. Aqua put her second hand over the first, and raised the keyblade's tip toward the heavy black lock on the gate.

"AQUA, BEHIND YOU!"

Time seem to slow down for a moment. Terra launched himself past Aqua, pushing her aside as he went after the heartless that had appeared behind her. Aqua dropped her keyblade in her shock, and it dropped to the ground with a _thump._

A spear of white light erupted from Terra's hand, and in it, a long and heavy keyblade made of bronze and copper appeared in his grasp. With a massive swing, he cut at the sword-wielding heartless Aqua had seen in the tunnels, and left a deep cut in its chest.

Aqua could only hear the sound of her own breathing as the Invisible shrieked and struck at Terra with the flat of its sword. _He has a keyblade,_ she thought. _He has a KEYBLADE. _Her mind went back to the ease with which he'd smashed open the gate, and his non-hesitation at checking a Heartless into a wall. _I'm not…alone, anymore?_

The Invisible turned back to Aqua, and she carefully picked her keyblade back up. "Don't think just because you could stop him, means you can take me down!" In a flash of light, her armor appeared, and she dove for the Invisible. It swung for her, and the sword moved to quickly for her to parry, and it instead smashed into her side. The chainmail held, but she would have a bruise later.

More importantly, the Heartless was now far too close to avoid her strike. "Firaga!" A fireball the size of her head erupted from her palm and took the Heartless in the stomach. Aqua dropped back a step, and shouted "Waterga!" A geyser of boiling hot water sprung from the tip of her keyblade and struck her opponent.

The Invisible backed away from the water spell and its sword glowed. It vanished, and a trio of black fireballs appeared circling around Aqua.

Instead of running, casting a spell, trying to dissipate the flames, Aqua held still, watching the flames carefully. _If I recognize this curse right…seems like a good time to see if Illos knew what he was talking about._ The flames started swirling more heavily around Aqua, and moved in closer. Just as the flames disappeared and the Invisible appeared on the spot, Aqua leaped upward, leaving behind an image of herself still in the same place. She had moved quickly enough that the Invisible didn't immediately see the difference, and cut through the illusory image.

"Midnight Shine," she intoned, as light rippled along the surface of her keyblade. Her keyblade crackled with sparks, and deep blue light consumed it, stretching along its length and turning her keyblade into a lance made of light. "Fade into the abyss!" She threw the lance straight down, skewering the heartless right through. It was consumed in the bright light, and faded, as though it had never existed.


	5. Pax Obscura

**Chapter 5: Pax Obscura**

_"Midnight Shine!"_

Aqua stared at the keyblade in her hand as she and Terra walked to the front door of the mansion. _I've never done anything like that before. Usually I have to practice light spells over and over, but that just came naturally._ She looked over at Terra, who had his new keyblade—the Earthshaker, he said—in one hand. She smiled. _Then again…I don't think I've ever fought alongside another keyblade wielder before._

She dismissed her keyblade, and Terra followed her lead, and she went up to the door to knock. Just before she could, it smacked open, to reveal the old man who had been on the roof.

Aqua first realized that it wasn't a true rifle that he had bore, but a keyblade the color of gunmetal, with a sight on its hilt, a trigger on the handle, a second grip along the back side of the blade, and a barrel forming out of the blade. At the tip was the shape of a set of crosshairs. The token was in the shape of a brown Stetson.

The man's deep brown skin was lined with wrinkles. His eyes were almond-shaped, with grey irises. His long hair was made up of tight black curls, tied back in a ponytail. The tips of his ears were sharply pointed. Despite his age, he carried himself with an ethereal grace.

The old man slung his keyblade over his shoulder, and said "Come along, then, the Heartless won't be able to get past my wards." He turned, and all impressions of grace went away as he half-walked, half-hopped through the entryway of the mansion, one leg getting mostly dragged along.

"Um, who is this guy?" Terra muttered. Aqua shrugged, just as mystified. "Excuse me, your elderness, but who are you?"

"'Your Elderness'," the old man repeated. "That's one heck of an honorific there, kid. The name's Rider. Name sound familiar, Aqua?"

Aqua was taken aback, both by his knowing her name and the name he claimed for himself. "But, Master Rider? I thought you were dead." She stepped inside, her nerves to be around a keyblade master overcome by her intense curiosity. Terra reluctantly followed her inside, closing the door behind him.

"Now what in the light would make you think that?" Rider asked. His voice was of moderate pitch, with a slight gravel to it, like the sound of dry leaves crunching underfoot.

"Um, well, the way that Master Eraqus spoke about you," Aqua said, quickly getting flustered. "It made you sound like you weren't around anymore."

"Hmph," Rider said, turning up his nose. "Well, I'm certainly not much use to what little remains of the Keyblade Wielders. Never much of a teacher, and I can't fight too well anymore." He tapped his bad leg with his knuckles, and a wooden sound echoed off of it. He pulled up part of his pant leg, revealing that it was a prosthetic—which explained his odd gait. "Snipers aren't much appreciated in our order, even if our order isn't even a fragment of what it once was."

"Don't know why that'd be looked down on, those shots were amazing," Terra said.

Rider smiled wearily. "Well, I thank you for the compliment, ah, what was your name?"

"Terra Lufaine," he said. "An honor to meet you, Master Rider."

"Hm. And here Yen Sid thought Aqua would be the last of her generation," Rider said, putting one hand to his chin in thought. "Well, Aqua, there is a room on the upper floor where you may freshen up if you like, and then I'd like to speak to you in the sitting room in, oh, perhaps a half hour?" He pointed first to the room up the left set of stairs and around the corner, then to the sitting room to their left on the lower floor. "As for Terra, I'm sure your parents are looking for you."

Terra scoffed. "I doubt they noticed I was gone. Oh, wait, I'm an idiot! Kain and the others, I need to check that they're okay!" He turned to Aqua. "Hey, can we meet up later? I've got so many questions about this keyblade thing, and the Heartless, but I need to check up on my friends."

"Course, I'd be happy to try and give you a hand. Should we meet back here, or…"

Terra didn't seem to notice the big smile on her face. "No, I got a better idea—meet me at the clock tower, at around seven? See you then!" He ran out the door, leaving Aqua to head upstairs to get herself cleaned up.

* * *

The room was painted in white, with a small bed in the corner made up for a guest. Aqua went to the mirror and started cleaning the dirt off her face. _I'm not alone, he's got a keyblade too! Maybe Master Eraqus will take him as an apprentice! We can fight together, make a new keyblade knights!_ She pulled her hair to the front, and noticed with dismay that a few chunks had gotten shorn off when the Invisible had attacked her, leaving her hair uneven. _Except…that's assuming he'd even want to…after all, he has his own life here. Family, friends…he might just want to forget that he's even a keyblade wielder. Or he might ask Master Rider, or even Master Yen Sid to train him. I shouldn't get my hopes up._

Aqua carefully pulled off her armor, first the tabard, then the guards on her wrists and shins, then carefully pulled the chainmail shirt off over her head. There was no sign that the Invisible had even scratched the rings. A few loose blue hairs were tangled in it.

_Master Rider. Maybe he knows something about the Heartless, but can't investigate it himself because of his leg,_ she thought. Then a deeper thought, one that had been coming up more often than usual lately: _Maybe he knows something about the Pax Obscura._ She recalled what he had said about how the old Keyblade Knights wouldn't allow him to fight as a sniper. She could guess why—it would be seen as cowardly, detached from the action and from his allies who were fighting on the front line. _Even if it could be safer, especially when he has a keyblade made for his skills as a sniper. Hm…_

If he had a dislike for how the Keyblade Knights had carried out their business, perhaps he would be more open to speaking on a topic that could cast the Knights into a bad light, as she guessed the Pax Obscura did. The old journal referred to it as a dark period in history, but little more. If it was really that bad, it would make more sense why Master Eraqus had refused to speak on the topic—the Keyblade Knights were, for the most part, fragments of what they once were, leaving behind books, stories, and traditions. He wouldn't want the reputation of the Knights to be tarnished by old history.

With a word, Aqua created a pair of sharp scissors out of starlight, and pulled her hair over her shoulder. "I look like a little kid, don't I?" she said to herself, looking at her long hair in the mirror. Her bright blue hair, that for so long she'd been ashamed of. People stared at her, called her father irresponsible for letting his young daughter get such a loud shade of blue in her hair, teachers insisting that she'd be so much more beautiful with her natural hair color, and becoming deaf when she insisted that it _was_ natural.

And then she met the old keyblade master, who had resided in Radiant Garden. He told her that she had magical potential the likes of which he had never seen before, and it expressed itself in her hair, turning it the unnatural color. The man who had made her proud of her hair, who had shown her the road she could take as a keyblade wielder, and who had made her fear crossing the words of a keyblade master.

With a deep breath, Aqua took the scissors to her hair. With a long cut, she took off most of the length, then with the rest she tried to clean it up as best as she could. With a word, she cleaned up the hair that she had cut away, and ran her fingers through what remained to make sure it was even.

_I never realized how young I looked with my hair long,_ she thought. She stood up straight, shoulders even, legs together, toes apart.

She vanished the scissors, and filled a bowl on the dresser with water so she could properly clean her face. She carefully laid her armor on the dresser, the tabard folded in half with the emblem facing up. "Now, to speak to Master Rider."

* * *

Rider was waiting in the sitting room, as he had said he would be. He was finagling with his prosthetic leg, removing a twig that had gotten stuck in the knee joint. The false leg went up to about the middle of his thigh. While it was not very sophisticated, it seemed to work for the old keyblade master, likely because of its simplicity, rather than in spite of it.

He smiled at Aqua's entrance. "Sit, please. Aqua, I hope you'll forgive me for not playing with pleasantries, but since an old friend informed me that me and my leg were no longer welcome in the Keyblade Knights, I've been a bit reluctant to play by what tradition demanded, capiche?"

"I…what's capiche?"

"You understand? You get me?"

"...Yeah, I understand."

"Good." Rider pulled his pant leg back down, and continued. "Then I'll ask, why are you here in Twilight Town?"

Aqua answered quickly. "My master told me to investigate worlds that lie on the edge of darkness, to find the source of the Heartless that appeared in the town of Caeleris, on the world of Sidhe, in the Lanes Between, and now in Twilight Town."

Rider nodded. "So, then, I assume you will be heading underground again, to look for clues?"

Aqua shook her head. "Actually, no. I don't think I'm going to find anything down there. It just doesn't make sense why they would appear there in the first place. Like, if the Heartless—or whoever is controlling them—have a choice between sending the Heartless to a farming village, a suburban town, or a city. By all logic, the Heartless would go to the city, where there's more people, more hearts to consume, so they can increase their numbers."

Rider considered this, and nodded. "Very true. So, then, why _would_ the Heartless go to a farming village, or the sewers beneath a small town to go after a few teenagers?"

Aqua's eyebrows knitted together. "Well, I was in both places, and the Heartless can sense the keyblade. Actually…no, wait, in both places, I was using magic before they appeared!" She shook her head, and put a hand to her forehead in thought. "Hold on, no, that doesn't make sense. Master Xehanort told my Master that Heartless had been appearing elsewhere. And the keyblade wielders have been far more common, but the Heartless didn't appear then. The Heartless wouldn't have spontaneously appeared in Sidhe without good reason, and a single keyblade wielder hasn't historically been a good enough reason. But why else send the Heartless to a low-population area?"

She sighed, and forced herself to go back to the basics to solve a problem. _Turn the problem around._ "Alright…if I were the person controlling the Heartless…where would I send the Heartless? And why?" She turned to Master Rider. "How much do you know about the Heartless? Off the top of your head?"

Rider considered it for a moment. "Beings of darkness, with the capability to destroy worlds," he summarized.

Aqua's eyes widened. "Okay, but how many? Or I guess, how strong is a single heartless? How many Heartless do you need to destroy a world? Ten? A hundred? A thousand? Ten thousand, or more? We don't know, do we? I can count the number of large-scale Heartless outbreaks in written history on one hand." She jumped up from her chair. "Whoever this is, they're not trying to expand the numbers or destroy worlds, they're just testing the capabilities of the Heartless!" She raised one hand with her mouth open, trying to think. She put the hand to the back of her neck, closed her mouth, and looked back at Rider. "I don't know what that means for my mission, but it's pretty exciting." She was smiling big despite herself.

Rider grinned. _This girl has a crazy streak a mile wide. She tries to hide it, but she's got more enthusiasm than anyone else in that damned order has had for the last three generations._

"So," he said. "What's your next step?"

"Well, I want to make sure this world is okay, first," Aqua said. "And I still need to meet with Terra. So I thought I might patrol the town, see if I can draw any more Heartless out. If not, then I'll see if I can find another world close to the darkness where I can try to follow the scent. If I had to guess, it might be a world of slightly higher population density. Not quite a metropolis, but a city at least."

Rider nodded. "I may be able to point you to a few potential worlds to investigate. I would, however, ask that you stay the night, rest and regain your strength."

"I—okay. You're right. Thank you, Master Rider, for your generosity, and for helping me think through the problem." Aqua hesitated, and considered the question that had been burning her through for a long time now. "I don't mean to impose, but I wonder if I could ask you about something else? It's not related to the matter at hand, but it's been bothering me for a long time."

"Go ahead," Rider asked, with a slight smile. That smile went away when she asked her question.

"Do you know anything about an event called the 'Pax Obscura'?"

Rider put a hand to his chin at a flood of memories. "Ah. Interesting, that you would ask about that."

A hint of fear went through her expression, and Aqua said "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

"No, no, it's quite alright. I can imagine why you would be so nervous to ask, though. It doesn't exactly paint the Keyblade Knights very well."

Aqua nodded. "I guessed as much. A couple years ago, I came across a mention of it in a journal, and asked my Master about it. He got really angry, and wouldn't answer anything, and removed a dozen books from the library that I'd guess were about the Pax Obscura."

"There was a time when I would have been the same. At a time when I was far more loyal to the Keyblade Knights, I had my own students—one of whom left and never returned when I refused to give him information that I asked for." Rider took a deep breath, and started his story.

"You said before, that you could count on one hand the number of times the Heartless had threatened the Realm of Light as a whole. The Pax Obscura was one of those periods. It was approximately seven-hundred-fifty years ago, when the Heartless began to appear in worlds deep in darkness. The Keyblade Knights numbered at nearly fifteen-hundred, half of whom were active, and about four hundred of whom could come to fight at a moment's notice, but as they started fighting the Heartless, they quickly realized that even with their numbers, they were having trouble keeping back the Horde.

"There were certain worlds, the leaders observed, that were so heavily entrenched with dark hearts, that it seemed as though to cleanse them of the Heartless, it would risk heavy damages to their own numbers. So, after a year of fighting the Heartless, they decided to cut their losses."

Aqua's heart skipped a beat at that.

"At that time, the keyblade wielders were led by a council of seven. They decided, six-to-one, to quarantine thirteen worlds, deemed to be so heavily corrupted by their own darkness, that those souls were not worth saving. Their most powerful mages created barriers around the worlds, leaving them to die, or worse. By the best estimates, over five billion people were left behind, and forgotten. Thus, the Pax Obscura, the Darkest Peace, began."

Aqua interlaced her fingers, and pressed her hands against her mouth. She pulled her fingers apart, leaned back, and pressed her palms against her closed eyes. Every indignant scream she wanted to yell seemed stupid. _WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEM? THIS IS WHAT I'M THE GRAND HEIR TO? AN ORGANIZATION BASED ON FIVE BILLION PEOPLE'S BLOOD? WHY DID I EVER LEAVE HOME IF THIS IS THE TRADITION THAT I'M CARRYING ON?_

Rider looked at her somberly. He sighed. "It isn't the end of it. Thirteen worlds were quarantined. Some were consumed by the darkness. Some used destructive magic or technology to wipe out the Heartless, but destroying all life on the planet as well. But a few…a few of those worlds survived. They saw that the Keyblade Wielders had abandoned them, and instead of lying down, they found their own ways to combat the darkness. And they remember the crimes we have committed against them, even so many centuries later."

Rider placed his hands on his knees. His eyes were closed. "The world of Remnant is one of those worlds that survived the quarantine. It is a world which lies on the borderline between light and darkness. However, it is of a different type than the ones you have visited up to now. Where Yen Sid's tower lies closer to the light, and Twilight Town is on the very edge between light and darkness, Remnant lies closer to the Realm of Darkness, than the Realm of Light. It may be a good place to continue your search." He opened his eyes. "If this mysterious manipulator is aware of your actions to destroy the Heartless thus far, and you are correct in your theory that it is to test the Heartless, it would certainly be the last place you would look—I would not have even considered it, had you not brought up the Pax Obscura."

* * *

Aqua's thoughts were still swimming with all she had learned from Master Rider about the Pax Obscura as she walked to the Station Plaza. She nearly didn't come after realizing the evil the keyblade wielders had descended to in the name of the Light. But Terra had asked that she come, and she did not want to leave him waiting.

Within a few minutes of arrival, Terra showed up, and when she tried to start talking, he told her to hold off. He led her to an outer staircase that led up the side of the station, and showed her the ledge on the front of the station.

He sat himself down on the ledge. "I come up here all the time. It's a great place to think, or to eat ice cream with friends. Which reminds me!" He reached into his bag, and pulled out two wrapped ice cream bars. "Ta-da! To new friendship!"

Aqua took one carefully, and pulled off the wrapper. Terra started digging into his immediately. The ice cream was tinted a very light blue, giving Aqua the impression it might be blueberry or maybe blue moon, and was surprised at the first taste. "Mmph!"

Terra snorted at the noise she'd made, like it was a shout but her mouth was too full of ice cream to say it properly.

Aqua shook her head to stave off the first sign of ice cream headache. "It's salty—but it's sweet, too."

"Sea-salt ice cream," he said, smiling. "What do you think?"

"It's strange, but it's really good!" She took another lick, as Terra bit off more of his. She stared past her ice cream, at the eternally setting sun. Against her will, tears started welling up in her eyes. She wiped them away with the back of her hand. "Y'know. Until today, I'd always thought I had so much open to me. That I knew so much. That all the worlds were just waiting for me to explore them. I didn't realize that it was all so limited. It's like a bird that thinks that it has all the open sky, when it's really just a painting on the wall."

"Aqua?"

She took a quick few bites of her ice cream. "Terra, you have a keyblade."

Terra had already finished his own ice cream. With one hand, he summoned his keyblade out before him. It was made of burnished bronze, with a wide blade and a blue guard. The token was of an amber gemstone enclosed in metal stone. It looked heavy, far heavier than Aqua's own Rainfell, but he held it with one hand anyways. It suited the boy who was stronger than he looked, when he looked pretty strong already. "So, you said that the Heartless come after the keyblade. But what is it, exactly? Why did it appear like that? Did you create it? Or your master?"

Aqua shook her head. "The keyblade has existed for millennia. There are many in existence, passed down through the generations by the keyblade itself selecting a bearer. They draw out the inner power of your heart, enable you to use magic, and to use powers that are beyond even other mages. They can open any lock, and can seal the keyholes that lead to a world's heart.

"You have the right to know, as a bearer of the keyblade, that what you know as your world is only a small fraction of the universe. What you see before you, everything that the light touches, is only one world, of many that exist. Out there are billions, even trillions more beings, all with their own hearts and lives. It is the responsibility of the keyblade bearers to protect those worlds from the forces of evil."

Aqua summoned her own keyblade. "For as long as the keyblades have existed, the Keyblade Knights have existed as an organization to train new keyblade wielders, and to ensure the universe is protected, even if the organization has fragmented more recently. Initiates would be trained first as a class, then be taken in by a master for further training as an apprentice. Then, one day, they could be raised up to a position as a Keyblade Master in their own right."

She set the blade down on the seat to her right. She took a last bite of ice cream. The wooden stick had writing on it that said "_LOSER, TRY AGAIN_" in purple ink.

"How many worlds are out there?" Terra said first.

Aqua smiled, remembering when she had asked the same question. "Look up at the sky," she said, as it was turning darker by the minute. "Every star in the sky is the heart of a world."

Terra swore loudly.

"I had about the same reaction, actually." She laughed, and Terra laughed with her. For a minute, they sat like that, staring up at the stars in wonder.

"So, a responsibility to protect the worlds, huh?"

"Yeah. Except…if you don't want to, you don't have to." Terra looked up, puzzled. "The only people who know that you have a keyblade are myself and Master Rider. You have a family and friends here, and nobody will force you to leave that behind, or blame you if you want to stay. I'll thank you for saving my hide from that Heartless earlier, and move on."

Terra thought about what she said, looking his Earthshaker over. "Well…no. I mean…why would I ever give up that kind of chance? To see other worlds?" He looked back out at the sunset. "To make something of myself? My family…y'see, my family owns half the trains in the country, so at most I'd just be some trust fund kid. But, the thing is that I'm the fourth of seven kids."

Aqua let out a low whistle.

"Uh-huh. Two older brothers, an older sister, twin younger sisters, and a baby brother. I don't have much waiting for me. So if I can go off, become a keyblade master, fight evil? Yes, a thousand times yes!"

Aqua's heart leaped, but hurt at the same time, as she remembered what she had learned less than an hour ago. "I…Terra, I'm sorry, but you should know. It's not sunshine, and goodness. Some of the other masters you meet might not want to discuss it, but the keyblade wielders…they aren't always the best of people.

"Even just forget what Master Rider told you, about them being against his place as a marksman. Understand, Master Rider has a grudge far beyond what either of us will ever know. He might not look it, but he's over nine hundred years old. The last battle he was recorded as taking part in, presumably when he lost his leg, was nearly two hundred years ago. He's got a grudge a mile long against a keyblade master who's probably long dead."

Terra's eyes widened as he took in the new information. "Whew…"

"But, I can tell you. Before I was Master Eraqus' apprentice, the things I went through as an initiate. They taught us, me and the other students I was with, that anything bad that happened to us was our own fault. They then put us in sparring matches against older students and masters, even, and any injuries were treated as a lesson. I…I…" She wrapped her hands around her arms, as old memories started resurfacing, ones that she did _not_ want to remember.

"Aqua, it's okay, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Terra put a hand on her shoulder.

The girl rubbed her eyes with one hand. "There's something else."

She then related what Rider had told her about the Pax Obscura, and watched as Terra's expression became troubled, while his eyes showed the horror at what he was learning.

When Aqua finished re-telling, they sat there in silence for a few minutes, as Terra processed the information.

_I've got no choice, I have to go back, and there's no way he's going to follow. I wish I had the choice to not go back, but what else would I do? Where else could I go?_

"Then let's do it together."

It took a moment for Aqua to process that he had spoken. "Wh-what?"

She turned, and Terra's eyes were full of a new resolve, even more than when he'd been calling out a thousand times yes.

"The two of us, let's become masters, and change how the Keyblade Knights operate. We'll make it better, and prevent anything like that from happening again. However long it lasts, let's leave this universe better than how we came into it."

Aqua felt numb. "Okay. Okay! Let's make it a promise, then. We're going to become keyblade masters, together."

As she spoke, a light traced along the edge of her keyblade.

"What in the world?" Terra said quietly, as Aqua picked her keyblade back up.

"I don't know, it's not me."

She stood up carefully, and held up the keyblade with both hands. Down on the ground below, a massive etching of a keyhole appeared in the brick, glowing with bright light. Aqua raised the tip of the keyblade with one hand, and stars whirled around the tip, and drops of light burst from the tip like a fountain and fell into the keyhole. It glowed blindingly bright for a moment, before closing and vanishing with a _click_.

_That was…that was this world's keyhole, I think,_ Aqua thought, as the Rainfell vanished. "This world should be safe from the Heartless—now and forever."

* * *

_A/N:_

_Master Rider is a character of my own creation, the first such character thus far. I made him back when we didn't know Master Eraqus' name, and at that time he was Terra, Ven, and Aqua's master. Later I re-used him in unpublished fanfic as a mentor to Sora, Riku, and Kairi. And now, he's an old man with a wooden leg. He's always been some type of elf, thus the age and pointed ears._

_"What you see before you, everything that the light touches..." What can I say, I grew up watching the Lion King on a daily basis._

_Next chapter we head into the last arc of this fic, which takes place in the world of Remnant. This is based off of the animated series RWBY. There will not be spoilers for the series beyond what you can learn by watching a few episodes, but at the same time I hope that it will be comprehensible to those who haven't watched RWBY._

_In any case, see you next time._


	6. The Shining Beacon

_A/N: Anyone who's watched RWBY-this takes place quite a while before the series begins, as you'll soon see. The original idea was to continue on in another Kingdom Hearts fic that takes place post-KHII with Kairi taking the lead and meeting team RWBY, but we'll see about that in the future. At any rate, I hope you enjoy, whether you're like me and watched Monty Oum's stuff from Dead Fantasy or Haloid, or you're just here for Aqua's adventure._

**Chapter 6: The Shining Beacon**

A Keyblade Glider, when under the effects of gravity, can travel at speeds up to seventy miles per hour, depending upon the rider's current level of exhaustion. When free of opposing forces, a Keyblade Glider can move at up to one hundred miles per hour, assuming the rider is well-rested and has good magic control. This level of speed is deceptive, however, as the Lanes Between used in these days acted as shortcuts through space that were far shorter than the routes used by starships in later years.

Aqua left Twilight Town moving through the Lanes Between at speeds roughly equivalent to eighty miles per hour, in order to conserve her magic, and would have reached the world of Remnant within three hours. Needless to say, it would have been difficult for any living thing to keep up with her speed, which is why it took her a moment to realize that the black phantom a hundred feet below her was more than keeping up, it was gaining on her.

The movement of the figure garbed in a black robe looked like walking, even as it crossed hundreds of yards with each casual step. If it knew that Aqua was there, it was not acknowledging her presence.

_What in the world? Could it be…human?_ Aqua steadied her grip on her glider and closed her eyes. _Let go of everything, and feel for the presence._ She could see her own aura in her mind's eye, a deep blue the color of midnight, and the aura coming from her keyblade was an identical color. There was a faint aura of enchantment coming off of her armor, and the stream of magic coming off of the Lanes. She shut out the lesser magical signatures, and reached out toward the cloaked figure.

A slight brush against the being's presence was all Aqua got before she was jolted back in pain. The being's immense black aura radiated out from it like lances, stabbing at her mind even though she had already retreated back into herself. _That darkness! I never realized somebody could carry such deep darkness! But…why does it feel familiar?_

She looked down at the being, and said quietly "Master Xehanort?" _A power that flows out of him in waves…I've only ever felt his aura passively before, but that's definitely him! But what's he doing out here? And how is he travelling like that without a Keyblade Glider?_

He looked over his shoulder, and Aqua felt a pair of eyes on her. He quickened his step, and vanished in a blur.

Aqua watched him vanish, and she shook her head. _I'll figure that out later, I need to get ready for the Quarantine Zone. Master Rider said that while it was made to keep the Heartless out, it would still probably disrupt my magic as I pass through the barrier. And who knows what this world will even be like? After centuries sealed in with the Heartless, it could still well be a warzone. And it's so close to the Realm of Darkness, I can feel it even now. My armor is protecting me, but I can feel the darkness pulling on my heart._

Far off in the distance, but getting closer every moment, Aqua could see a massive wall that stretched across the entire way of the Lane. It was a translucent white-gold color, and even at this distance she could detect the powerful warding magic.

"Alright, let's charge on through!" She braced herself on her Glider, ready if it started reacting badly to the wards. _Thousand yards, five hundred, two fifty._

About a hundred feet before the Quarantine Zone, her glider started bucking on unseen turbulence. When she hit the edge of the barrier, she felt suddenly sapped of all energy, and her glider no longer was producing thrust. A dark force started pressing on her, and Aqua realized somewhere in the back of her mind that the enchantments on her armor had stopped working.

Her Glider vanished, and her keyblade reappeared back in her hand. Aqua felt herself falling, falling, and then…nothing.

* * *

Beacon Academy, a symbol of light in the city of Vale, and the country of Vytal. It was there that young men and women trained to become Huntsmen and Huntresses, in order to protect the people from the darkness that came in the form of the creatures of Grimm, animalistic beings whose only driving force was to destroy all life.

_Click click click,_ came the sound of heels on tile, as the young Huntress walked down the halls of the shining beacon. She was young, relatively speaking, only in her late twenties, but she carried herself like she was older. It was nearly a requirement, if she was going to work with the men who had been assigned her teammates when she had entered Beacon some ten years previously.

"Bartholomew, you're going to have a heart attack from that caffeine," she said to a man with shining white glasses sitting on his nose and dark green hair that stuck out in all directions, as he drank heavily from his thermos and talked to the man beside him. "Peter, your facial hair looks atrocious."

The other man _harrumphed_ and ran a finger along his moustache. "Oh, you're only bitter because you too have noticed how the other women in the academy have looked at me!" he said boisterously, with a heavy baritone. "Perhaps you too have felt—"

She turned on her heel, and fixed him with a glare that could make a Grimm cower.

The first man muttered "Abort, abort!" He slid out of the hallway so quick one could barely follow him. After all, Glynda Goodwitch had given Bartholomew Oobleck a taste of her power more than once.

Peter Port smiled nervously beneath his moustache. The man was rather short but very broad. His hair was ink-black, though Glynda knew it was dyed to disguise his premature gray hairs.

"Have you seen him?"

"His new office, most likely," said Port, with an edge of anxiety in his tone.

"Thank you."

Glynda's heels clacked against the ground, as she went to the office of the third of her teammates, who was the first to be accepted as a teacher at the school they had attended together.

She pushed the door open without knocking, and said "Ozpin, wake up, you have class in twenty minutes." The office was tiny and messy, with stacks of paper on the desk and the bookshelves dusty.

"That won't work this time." The backwards chair spun around, revealing the man sitting in it. He was young, currently the youngest professor at Beacon working full-time. He was dressed all in green, and wore glasses with crooked arms on his face. His hair was his most striking feature—shocking white, naturally that way for all his life. It had been almost a strike against him when he was applying for the position, as it had been assumed to be dyed. Unnatural hair colors were hardly uncommon in the city of Vale, but less common was for it to be seen on teachers.

"Hm, and here I was sure you were sleeping. But you do really have class in twenty minutes." With a swift motion, Glynda pulled a riding crop from a holder on the inside of her high boot. Holding it like a wand, she swept it around the room. A breeze kicked up dust, shuffled papers into neat stacks, and neatened the books on the shelves. The wind made her short violet cape kick up. She moved the curly blonde bangs out of her eyes, and adjusted the tight bun that held her hair in place. "And I have my own assignment. Some Beowolves have been making noise out on the southern wall, and I've been asked to clear them out."

Beowolves were one of the more common varieties of Grimm, resembling shadowed wolves that could stand on their hind legs, and grew to heights varying from six feet to ten feet. Like all Grimm, they had burning red eyes, and bony white spines and plates growing from their backs and heads.

"Do you need any help?"

She gave him a light smack on the forehead with her riding crop. "Class. Twenty minutes. I'll be back in three hours to fill out that paperwork."

"Right. Well, send a message when you're on your way back, and don't hesitate to call for help if you need it."

For all his occasional absentmindedness, Glynda looked in his eyes and saw a spark of genius. They had not been officially part of a team for years, but he still treated Glynda, Port, and Oobleck as teammates, and they respected him as team leader. She glanced across his desk, and saw that the papers were across all topics she could think of—Grimm research, weapon designs, robotics, history, aura, Dust, the news. And even aside from his intelligence, he could look at a person with his thin olive eyes, and know at a glance the life story of that person. It was somewhere between a good knack for guessing, and telepathy. It was a gift that had saved the lives of himself and his comrades more times than either could count, not that Ozpin would ever take credit for his actions.

Glynda gave a slight nod to the man she trusted with her life, and left the room.

The walk out of the academy was uneventful, aside from groups of students running to class late. Waiting for Glynda was a Bullhead, a tiltjet VTOL-capable dropship used universally by soldiers, Huntsmen and Huntresses alike for small-team operations, powered by Dust.

As the jet took off, she checked the canisters of Dust she held in her belt. Discovered some seven-hundred years previously as life on this world faced destruction at the hands of the Grimm, Dust was mined in crystal form, processed into powder, and used as an energy source, accelerant, and as a weapon. Many used Dust in place of gunpowder in their weapons, which allowed for them to deliver the destructive power required to destroy Grimm. Some used it to augment melee weapons, such as pulling a trigger at the time of the attack to burn Dust and power up the strike. And some individuals, like Glynda herself, had a particular power over Dust, using their innate abilities to manipulate Dust using glyphs, in order to produce magical effects.

However it was used, it was inarguable that had humanity not discovered Dust, and learned how to use it, they would have long-since succumbed to the dark horde of the Grimm.

As the Bullhead passed over the southern wall, Glynda looked down for a good landing spot. The Grimm were amassed some three hundred feet directly south of the closest guard tower. The city of Vale, itself, was its own shining beacon in the depths of the wilds. There were a few villages out in the wilds, but for the most part, humanity could only live and flourish in walled cities like Vale. It kept the Grimm out, but that didn't reduce the nerves that came when a pack of Beowolves came up to the wall to see if they could find a way in.

Glynda could just make out an outcropping along the wall that overlooked where the Grimm had coalesced. Few hundred square feet of rock and dirt, covered with a fresh layer of snow. Too small for the Bullhead to land, but that would only draw attention. She stood, putting one hand on the bar that ran above the door, and drew her crop with her other hand. She sent a hand signal to the pilot, and with practiced movements she dove out of open door, quickly headed to the ground.

As she fell gracefully through the air, she swept her wand out to the side with practiced movements. The Dust canisters in her belt were sapped of material as a series of glowing, circular Glyphs appeared on the way down to the ground. She kicked off the first, and the glyph transferred her kinetic energy forward and reduced her speed. She did the same all the way down, until the last of the glyphs she had produced was spent. With another wave, a glyph appeared flat on the ground beneath her. She landed straight in the middle, knees bent, one palm flat against the ground for stability, and the glyph shattered apart into hundreds of triangular fragments. The snow burst out around her into a spray of slush and steam. She stood slowly, adjusted her glasses, and went to the edge of the cliff to look over the horde of Beowolves.

_Strange behavior for a Grimm,_ she thought as she watched. The Grimm were moving around very little, and many were standing up on their hind legs. They were facing away from her, away from the walls of the city, and seemed to be looking up at the sky.

At the edge of her hearing, Glynda could perceive the sound of the Bullhead flying away, the Grimm's low growl, and for just a moment, she would swear she could hear the sound of a shriek, from far off in the distance.

"What in the world?" She looked upwards, at both the apparent source of the last noise, as well as where the Grimm were looking. She nearly questioned if the light streaking across the sky was a falling star, were it not for the fact that it was the prime of the morning. It was drawing at an angle, downward and northward. "There's a story to tell later," she muttered, as she made a quick estimate as to where the streak of light would land, and made a massive glyph appear on the surface of the snow.

* * *

A voice was screaming in Aqua's ear, or maybe that was just the rushing wind, and she came to, realized that she was several hundred yards in the air, and started screaming in shock. "Aeroga, Aeroga, COME ON STUPID THING AEROGA!"

She whipped her keyblade around in the air, and a gust of wind erupted from the tip, slowing her descent but also sending her flipping head-over-heels. _Oh man this is gonna hurt._

It did, but not nearly as much as she might have guessed. She hit a pile of snow, and something vaguely glowing collapsed beneath her to cushion her fall.

"Are you alright?" came the voice of a woman from somewhere to Aqua's left.

She pushed herself up. "Ow," she replied.

"You just fell from at least a mile up," said the woman disbelievingly.

"Yeah, thus, ow." Aqua shrugged, and looked up at the voice's source. It was a woman in maybe her mid-late twenties, her blonde hair tied back, and a short, ragged violet cape attached to her shoulders. In one hand she held a riding crop like a wand. Aqua looked back at the now-snowless circle that had been her landing spot. "Hey, did you cast that spell? That cushioned my fall?"

The woman raised an eyebrow, but she answered "Yes. How in the world were you falling from—" For the first time, her eyes went from Aqua's face and the apparent lack of any injuries, to the tabard upon her chest, and the sword in her hand. "How in the world?" she said to herself.

"Well, thanks, anyways," Aqua said, stretching her arm to work out a kink in her shoulder. "I'm Aqua."

"…Glynda." She pointed her riding crop at Aqua. "Do not think to run off," she said, although Aqua hadn't even considered it, thoroughly fascinated by the odd magic this woman seemed to use. "You seem a sensible young woman, and I only wish to ask you a few questions. Will you wait here, while I eliminate these Grimm, or must I restrain you?"

"I can stay put, but what are Grimm?" Aqua stepped up to the edge of the cliff where Glynda stood, and her eyes widened at the pack of Grimm. _What in the light? Are those Heartless? No…but they feel similar, the chill they send through the air, and the instincts they possess to destroy light. Monsters, it would seem._ "Oh. Would you like a hand, so it might be done faster?" She held her keyblade at the ready.

Glynda adjusted her glasses with one hand. "Forgive me, but I'll have to refuse. I don't like fighting alongside somebody whose style I'm unfamiliar with."

Aqua thought it over, and nodded. "Alright, fair enough," she said. _I guess if you're unfamiliar with the other person's style, you risk hurting your ally. Makes sense, but I hadn't ever even considered that before._ She dismissed her keyblade, and stepped back to give Glynda room for whatever she was about to do. _Plus…I can't deny I'm curious as to how this world survived against the Heartless, or the Grimm I guess._

"Watch yourself," said Glynda. She adjusted her glasses, swept her arm out to the side, and snow started to gather itself up around her and pack into thousands of ice fragments in a massive spear. With a sweep, she threw it forward, and the spear flew into the throng of Grimm and exploded like a fragmentation grenade, severely angering any Grimm it did not instantly destroy.

Aqua felt the rush of energy coming from the older woman like a heavy gust in her face. _Oh. That's how._

Glynda swept her arm around, whipping up the ice fragments she had already cast into a frenzy of swirling serpents that each spun through the air, herding in a group of Grimm and then straightening into a series of lances that rotated around the group slowly. Glynda drove her hand forward, and all of the lances flew into the Grimm, annihilating the monsters in a fell swoop. Thirteen down, two dozen left.

After the initial assault, the Grimm had finally figured out the source of the attacks, and were charging for the cliff. Glynda traced a small circle in the air in front of her to produce a cluster of energy shots that homed in on the leaders of the pack to throw them back into their fellows.

As several more Grimm leaped up the cliff, Glynda created a circular array that held the Grimm in place as they struck it. She took a deep breath, moved a stray hair out of her eyes, and the glyph exploded outwards.

From the cloud of smoke, a Beowolf larger than any of the others flew out, landed on the edge of the cliff and kicked off, blowing snow into the air as it leaped for Glynda.

"Reflect!" A shield appeared in front of Glynda just as she moved away with a quick back handspring. "Glynda, the energy shots again!" Aqua called out as she created a series of shields parallel to each other in shades of violet. The Alpha Beowolf was ugly, even for the Grimm, with long fangs and massive spikes running down its spine, it was nearly foaming at the mouth as it clawed fruitlessly at the first shield.

Glynda recovered quickly from her dodge, stepped forward, and held out her off-hand to create a sphere of light that quickly formed into a series of spiraling energy shots that drilled through the Reflect shields. The spell shields erupted with orbs of light that drove straight forward with the energy shots, and all of the magic struck the Alpha Beowolf directly in the chest. Any of its fellows would have been vaporized on impact—instead, it was thrown out and away, a hundred yards to the south, throwing up a cloud of powder upon landing.

"Ranged attacks only, take it in turn," Glynda said, as she threw out a series of ice lances.

"Gotcha!" Aqua dragged one hand circularly through the air to her side, and deliberately brought it forward as she shouted "Firaga!" A series of three massive fireballs flew from her fingertips and annihilated the next ones trying to get over the cliff.

Five, the last five, came over the edge of the cliff at once.

"Aqua!" Glynda shouted, as the Grimm all leaped for the younger girl, creating a series of Glyphs directly in front of her.

"Blizzaga!" Aqua stepped forward, and let the fragments of ice fly through the center of the Glyphs. The pieces were focused down the point, and the spell drove through all five Beowolves with one shot. They were held in the air a moment, before dropping to the ground, and turning to black smoke.

Glynda adjusted her glasses, and Aqua threw her hands up in the hair. "Woo-hoo! That was so much fun! Sorry for interfering, I hope I didn't throw you off. That was really amazing what you were doing with your power! I've never seen anyone release that kind of power that wasn't a key—uh, that wasn't extraordinarily powerful, I mean."

"I would suggest that you remove your armor before we go through the gate," Glynda said nonchalantly. "If you wish to avoid questions, since I recall something about maintaining the order of other worlds."

It felt like a chill had gone through the air. "So, is the knowledge of the other worlds widespread here?"

"No," said Glynda. "But it's far more common among Huntsmen and Huntresses than it is among the general populace. And, more importantly, there's the old stories about the Warriors of Light wielding strangely-shaped swords who abandoned this world to darkness."

"I see," Aqua said, as she pulled her tabard off and stuffed it into a bottomless pocket.

"The maille, too. Rather useless against the Grimm, as you saw, and it would raise questions."

"Thanks," Aqua said. "So, what was it you wanted to ask me?"

Glynda closed her eyes and shook her head. "Come. There's somebody who will want to meet you."

The gate came up quickly, and Aqua walked just behind Glynda. A pair of soldiers stood on either side of the gate. They were heavily armed and armored, wearing a black bodysuit beneath slacks and full chest, arm, throat, and head armor. The armor plating was in silver, with blue accents on the collar, the shoulder guards, the back of the forearm, and along the sides of the helm. The only thing exposed was their mouths, and the metal seemed to go seamlessly over the eyes, though they seemed to be able to see just fine. Both men carried heavy rifles strapped to their packs by magnetic plates, and pistols on their right hip. As Glynda passed through they stood at rapt attention.

"Huntress Goodwitch, was your mission successful?" said the first.

"Indeed, the Beowolves have been cleared out," she said. "You may pass along the report to your superior. And no need to mention the girl—just another student from Signal with dreams of being a hero."

"Yes, ma'am, understood!" The second soldier turned over his wrist, and tapped at a device strapped to the inside. The gate opened, revealing a small guard post, barracks on either side in buildings that looked more like apartments, and the center of the road had been converted into a landing dock for Bullheads. Indeed, one was fueled and waiting, and Glynda gestured for Aqua to follow her to it.

Aqua quickly pulled herself onboard, and the pilot slid the door closed after her.

"This place looks abandoned," Aqua said, looking out the small porthole.

"Indeed," said Glynda absently. "Until about ten years ago, there were people living out here, as they are across the city of Vale, but a small incursion of Grimm through the gate terrified any survivors of the attack out of living so close to the walls. Now it's all abandoned, or converted into military housing."

"So are you military, then?"

Glynda seemed to be offended at the very suggestion, but quickly composed herself. "Huntsmen work closely with the military, can hold military ranks both honorary and legitimate, and may work with soldiers to clear out infestations, but at least in Vytal, they are separate beings, if only by organization. Although, I've heard that it's different in other countries. Of course Vacuo is one of the least militarized countries but they have a lower concentration of Grimm. Mistral is somewhat akin to Vytal in having an overhead command structure that commands the Huntsmen and Military separately. Meanwhile, in Atlas, the Huntsmen are becoming increasingly militarized. I have no doubt that within a decade, new students at the Atlas Sunlit Academy will be titled 'Private' instead of 'Freshman'."

Aqua carefully considered her next sentence, and decided to change the subject instead of pursuing the same topic. "So, Huntsmen and Huntresses, they're elite Monster Hunters?"

"Grimm Hunters, peacekeepers, investigators, but yes," said Glynda, seeming almost to relax upon getting off the topic of the military. "Trained first at an initial combat school for four years, they will then be educated at a higher level at the academy in their country. In Atlas, it is the Sunlit Academy. And in Vytal, it is Beacon Academy. And it is there that my friend, Ozpin, has been studying the old history thought long-since lost. The keyblade wielders abandoning this world, and the Quarantine placed thereafter to lock us in with the Grimm."


	7. Off to Meet the Wizard

**Chapter 7: Off to Meet the Wizard**

It was a half-hour trip across the city. Aqua was left looking out the porthole to the city below. She had not been surprised to learn that the world of Remnant had a heavy military presence, as it was true that military command in times of disaster could allow for decisions to be made far more quickly—and since the Grimm had been around for seven hundred years, there had never been an opportunity for the military government to be disassembled. She was slightly surprised when she had seen the Grimm, but figured that it had been a way of adapting to the lack of connection to the Realm of Darkness, by taking on animalistic forms.

She had not expected to see that the city of Vale was so heavily built up. The Grimm threat had done little to stymy technological advancement. Office towers with a medieval taste stretched toward the sky. One section of the city was filled with entertainment, shops and clubs and theaters. Not just roads, but actual highways stretched across the city that went to the horizon. Aqua was quick to realize that her mental image of a walled town was inaccurate—this was more like its own city-state. According to Glynda, the population was somewhere around 8.5 million.

_Of course,_ she thought, her heart suddenly sinking, _this is also apparently one of the few cities in the entire world. The population density in the city itself may be high, but the world itself is sparsely populated. I can only imagine how many people died to achieve the level of security they have in this city, for the majority of the people to go about their lives without having to fear the Grimm at every turn._

She could suddenly understand why Glynda Goodwitch, who couldn't have been any older than thirty, carried herself like a much older woman—the sense of duty made her grow up fast, and the stress had made her age quickly.

"Coming in for a landing on the yellow lane, ladies, if you could be seated," said the pilot, his hands playing over the instruments.

Aqua backed up and took her seat, while Glynda had already been seated. The vertical landing was quick and smooth, and Glynda pulled open the door on her side in order to step out. Aqua jumped out afterwards, and looked up in awe at Beacon Academy.

On first sight, it looked like a castle. Beacon was set on a cliff overlooking a lake, to the east of Vale nearly in the wilds. A long brick road led from the open-air airship landing pads to the entrance of the academy. The sun reflected off the walls, and a white stone aqueduct formed a gateway around the entire facility. Towers stretched high in the sky, and at the highest was a clocktower with visible giant gears, and a bright green beacon of light that shined through the clouds, cutting away at the darkness.

"Wow," Aqua said lightly. As they came up the road, they approached a statue carved out of grey stone. Two figures, one male, one female, stood on an outcropping, both dressed in robes, both carrying weapons. The male stood with his broadsword out triumphantly, while the female carried a battleaxe, and looked off to the south opposite him. Beneath them was a Beowolf lashing out to the side.

Glynda stopped. "I need to send a message in advance." She reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a rectangular device with a gold diamond-shaped button in the center. She hit the button, and it split apart into a holographic tablet, each half of the original casing on opposite sides. The screen lit up, and she sent off a text message.

"It's strange," Aqua said suddenly, more to herself. "Just being here, it makes my heart feel so full of light."

Glynda gave a rare smile. "I feel the same way. Indeed, it really is a beacon of light in a world full of darkness."

As the Huntress and the Keyblade Apprentice came to the small office, they found Ozpin reading through a fresh stack of books on his desk. He looked up over his glasses. He set the book down, and stood. "Glynda, I hope your mission went well."

"Simple enough, although it had certain," she hesitated, searching for the right word. "Complications."

"And this young lady is the complication in question? But why bring her to me? I'm only a teacher, after all," said Ozpin. Aqua could pick up just a hint of sarcasm, although it didn't seem like he was anything more than a teacher.

The man in green turned his gaze on Aqua, and she could feel her muscles tense. _No, not now, it's alright, it's going to be okay. But light above it's the same look Master Eraqus gives me when he knows I've done something wrong._

"I am Ozpin, a Huntsman and teacher of history here at Beacon Academy," he said, offering his hand. Aqua took it and shook his hand as well as she could. Her mouth felt dry.

_Just introduce yourself, and be clear about it, and for the love of Kingdom Hearts calm down and don't stutter!_ "I'm Aqua," she said, as slowly as she could bear. "Student to Master Eraqus, bearer of Rainfell, and Keyblade Apprentice."

At the word keyblade, Ozpin's eyebrows raised. "Oh." He adjusted his glasses. "Glynda, if you could, please." Glynda nodded, and left the office, closing the door behind her.

"Coffee?" Ozpin said suddenly.

"Buh?" Aqua had to keep from smacking herself. "I mean, sure, thank you."

Ozpin went to the coffee maker he had sitting on a cabinet and started pouring from the fresh pot. "Sit, please."

"Thank you, sir," she said. It took her a moment to find the chair under the mess. She carefully picked up the pile of folders that had been stacked on the chair and set them under the seat. "So, Glynda told me you had some questions for me."

"True, but I also don't want to be rude to a guest from another world," said Ozpin. "How do you take your coffee?"

"Cream and two sugars," she said quickly. He prepared it as she said, and offered her a mug with the academy's emblem printed on it. "Thank you."

He took a drink of his own coffee, black. He set it down on the table, and rested his hands on the desk, folding his hands together. "It's interesting. The keyblade wielders are little-known, at least for the facts, but they are known enough that it is policy that if one is found, they are to be taken to the authorities."

Aqua paused at that. She lowered the coffee mug, holding it with both hands. "And yet, I'm here."

"Indeed," said Ozpin, with a sly smile. "Years ago, I mentioned to Glynda that if I could, I would only want to speak to an off-worlder. So curious would I be, of the universe outside of this quarantine, that I would be willing to refrain from carrying out my duty to do so."

Aqua couldn't help but laugh. Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "Uh, I'm sorry. I just…" She closed her eyes. "You might have noticed that I'm a little tense. It's just…you carry yourself like a keyblade master. But just in the suggestion that you might not carry out a duty. It's enough to make me laugh that I was so nervous." She nearly said 'afraid' instead of 'nervous'.

"Fascinating," said Ozpin. "Although, from what little I know of the keyblade, I know that I am far too much of a coward to ever be chosen to wield one."

It was Aqua's turn to be fascinated. _Oh. That's interesting._

But Ozpin continued. "I apologize if I came off as stern. But indeed, I am a teacher of history, and I am heavily curious about what brought about historical events."

"Like the Pax Obscura." She took a sip of her coffee. It was extremely bitter, but it was keeping her focused. "What you know as the Quarantine. A period in time where an incursion of Heartless was so great, that the keyblade knights of the time chose to seal off thirteen worlds to prevent further attacks upon the realm of light. Only two worlds survived, Remnant and another. It was…to be honest, I only learned the details of it just yesterday. But it's infuriating. I have no intention on carrying out their will. And in fact…"

She took another sip of coffee. Maybe she still felt a little nervous around Ozpin. "There have been Heartless appearing in some worlds that lie on the precipice between light and darkness. Heartless are beings of darkness, which act by instinct to steal hearts. In fact, I suspect that the Heartless might be an ancestor to the Grimm. When the Quarantine sealed off this world from the realm of light, it also sealed it off from the realm of darkness. The Heartless responded by adapting to the change, and becoming more animalistic. At any rate." She sighed. "My master sent me to investigate the incursion of heartless, and it's led me here. However, at the same time, I want to make reparations for the things my precursors did to this world."

She looked up at Ozpin, and locked her eyes with his. "I want to find a way to lift the Quarantine."

* * *

For however much Aqua had loved the library at the Land of Departure, the library at Beacon outclassed it by a mile. Stacks upon stacks, floors upon floors of books, treatises, journals, and scrolls. And as a teacher, Ozpin had access to the special collections, journals that went as far back as the Pax Obscura.

The special collection itself consisted of over five hundred pieces on its own. When they entered the room, Aqua created several spheres of light to safely illuminate the room.

As their search began, Ozpin asked his questions.

"So, what has come of the keyblade wielders since the old era?"

"Well, that was one of the greatest periods in our history—and I mean greatest as in heaviest numbers, sorry," she said. "The discovery and early use of Dust…don't think so." She went to the next row. "Numbers have only gone down since then. Particularly, it was very recently that many keyblade wielders died, for one reason or another. At the moment, as far as I know, there's…me, my Master, Eraqus, Master Yen Sid, his student, Master Rider, Master Xehanort, and Terra. There might be more, somewhere out there, but none that I can recall."

She pulled a short treatise out of a box at the bottom of the shelf. "My turn for a question. What's the relationship between Dust, Aura, and Semblance? I've heard those words thrown around but really don't get it."

Ozpin's voice carried over the stacks. "Dust is a mineral, mined as crystals, processed into powder, and used as an accelerant and propellant. It can be ignited with a spark, as with ordinary gunpowder, but if used in tandem with one's aura, it can burn much more efficiently and be used more effectively. Aura is the force of a person's soul made manifest. Besides being used to ignite Dust, it can be used to protect oneself from attacks. A first year student at this school can turn a blade with only their aura, although for every time it is used, it saps one's stamina. Semblance is a specific use of one's aura to manifest supernatural powers."

"Is that what those circular arrays that Glynda used were? Her semblance?"

"Exactly so. Glyphs are a specific manifestation that allows a person to manipulate friction and direction of movement. Additionally, one can use Dust to color one's Semblance and create unique effects. Glyphs in particular can be used to manipulate Dust to create bursts of elemental power."

"So that's it," Aqua said quietly. "That's why Glynda's spells felt so weird. What she was doing wasn't casting spells like how I do it. When somebody uses magic like what I'm familiar with, it's a steady burn of energy until the spell is released. Meanwhile, when she used it, it was a quick burst of energy that was released later. It's almost more like a keyblade, in requiring only an initial kick of magic to make it manifest, and can then be used freely. Oh! I'm sorry, but another question, when did Aura first appear in this world?"

"Good question. The answer is largely unknown, but it existed in some form at around the time the Grimm first appeared."

"A power born of desperation, perhaps?" she muttered. "You said that Aura was a power born from the soul. Well, maybe my keyblade is a lot like a semblance. Every keyblade has a magical presence nearly akin to an independent sentience, and it is through that soul, through one's keyblade, that a keyblade wielder can release the power inside their heart. Meanwhile, a person on this world can use their own soul as a medium by which to release the power inside of their heart, which takes form as a semblance."

Ozpin was silent for a minute, before continuing with his turn at a question. "How do you plan to release the Quarantine?"

"Giant spells like the Quarantine require anchoring to locations," said Aqua, as she climbed up onto a step-stool to look at a higher shelf. "Like there's some warding spells you can apply to the walls of a city to prevent Heartless and other dark beings from just teleporting into the city, those are bound to the walls themselves. But for a spell like the Quarantine, which has no physical binding, you can express the shape of the spell as an actual geometric figure stretching around the world but at the same time it's a two-dimensional figure twisted by—to be honest I don't understand it all that well myself. The point is, the Quarantine takes the form of an ellipse. That means that there are potentially two points from where I can release the spell, two focuses of the ellipse. The first, the location of casting. And the second, the keyhole."

"You are certain?"

"Ninety-five percent. Spells with greater effects require heavier prices in both energy and limitations. The first focus definitely has to be at the location it was cast from. The second would be a location automatically latched onto by the spell, a spot that is tied closely to the essence of this world."

"And what is the significance of this 'keyhole'?"

Aqua pulled down a book, stepped down from the step-stool, and walked back to the table where Ozpin was flipping through a journal. "Every world has a keyhole, which acts as a gateway to the heart of that world. The only way to protect a world from falling to darkness is to lock the keyhole, using the keyblade. But it's hardly so simple, unfortunately. There are worlds where Masters searched for years upon years to find the keyhole, to no avail, even if it was right under their nose." She declined to mention that she had found the keyhole in Twilight Town after being there only a single day. "It's probably easier to find the location of the casting, then."

Ozpin nodded. "Tell me, why do you fear Keyblade Masters so much, if you are to become one someday?"

"I'm sorry, I'm not comfortable answering that question," Aqua said coldly. "It's a little too personal."

"My apologies," he said, and dropped it.

Aqua sighed. "I…" _Shut up you idiot you met him an hour ago you don't need to tell your life story to everyone you meet._ "The ones I've met are stiff and duty-bound, and are inflexible, and my own master is at times cruel, but it's hard to tell the difference between when he is being cruel and kind until he tells you that you are never to ask about the Pax Obscura again. Or when he tells you that your gift of magic, the one thing you're proud of, is from your keyblade and not by your own power." _Didn't even notice that he hurt me so much._ She unconsciously ran a hand through her short blue hair.

_But then, it's like she said, maybe? That my unnaturally colored hair is evidence of my own power, power that flows so freely it alters my physical appearance._ She sighed, and set another book back on the stacks.

"Kind at one turn and cruel at another," said Ozpin thoughtfully. "There is an old story in this world—that of a man with two souls, both fighting for dominance. One soul is giving, and protects his loved ones. The other is dark, cruel, and attacks his allies. The man is treated as a hero, but the real world is no story, and you must learn whether or not to trust an individual who looks fair but speaks foul."

Aqua looked up at Ozpin, who was continuing to study the journal. The man had unnatural white hair—she wondered if he, like she, had excess magic that expressed itself in his physical appearance. "Thank you," she said softly. "I'll remember that."

The clock tower rung out 4 o' clock. After than last question, they sat in silence, only occasionally clarifying a term. An hour passed, then two. What little light could enter the room for the special collection was dimming.

When the sky had grown dark entirely, and just as Aqua was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, from somewhere far beyond the walls she could hear a low whine rising in pitch.

"What is that?"

"An alarm," said Ozpin, as he stood. His hand went to his cane. "Used only if Grimm are seen in the city."

Aqua shot up out of her seat. "Oh, no, Rider was right. I'd bet my last money those are the Heartless! I'm sorry, I need to go protect the city!" She ran for the door, but Ozpin was quick to protest.

"What are you planning to do, fly there?"

"Something like that!"

As she ran she summoned her keyblade, and once free of the front door of the academy she threw it out before her. In twin flashes of light, Rainfell transformed into a Glider, and her armor appeared on her body. Set on her shoulders, there appeared a cape woven of silver cloth, shining with an edge of light. She leaped onto her Glider, and shot off down the lane and over the edge of the cliff.

Aqua flew over the lake, the dark sky reflected in its surface. Something was nagging at her, like she was missing something. She looked up at the night sky.

_Every star in the sky is the heart of a world._

The sky of Remnant was entirely devoid of stars.


	8. Stars

**Chapter 8: Stars**

Aqua landed with a crash in the middle of a square. "Gaia!" she shouted, and pillars of earth slammed into the air to both cushion her fall and destroy several Neoshadows. She leaped from the top of the pillar and flew for an Invisible, latching the tip of her keyblade into its front in order to flip over it and bring it down behind her as she landed. "Fire," she said, and flames seared through her blade, annihilating the Heartless.

She nearly shrieked with joy when she realized that the Huntsmen and Huntresses already fighting the Heartless were making property damage the last worry on their minds. She had a lot of great spells in her arsenal, but many had a bad habit of blowing holes in the environment.

"Fission Firaga!" she shouted, igniting a series of fireballs that swirled around her head and burst apart in a firestorm to destroy the Shadows that were trying to mob her.

Something impacted hard against her back, knocking the wind out of her lungs. She brought up a barrier and turned on the spot. A Bit Sniper was fruitlessly firing against the shield, and in the moment she brought it down she fired off a Blizzard spell that reduced the Heartless to dust. In that moment she was distracted by the minor Heartless, an Invisible had placed a curse on her and a half a dozen Neoshadows were advancing upon her position.

And in all this, three dozen Huntsmen were fighting the Heartless in the square, and who knows how many more were spread across the city. For the Heartless to be so close to the center of town, Aqua had to guess that there were at least a thousand coming into Vale, if not more.

_This isn't what I thought would happen at all!_ she thought, as she cartwheeled out of the way of the encroaching Invisible. _Going straight from attacking some teenagers in the sewers, to invading a city? What's changed? My only thought is that the Heartless Commander is testing out the Heartless on a world that's been effectively abandoned, but a world like this that's been fighting the darkness for generations isn't exactly a good sample._

She wiped out the Invisible, and turned her focus to the Neoshadows. She brought a hand to her chest, brought up the mental image of crashing waves, and said "Master of Tides!" Water gathered around the base of her feet, coalesced into high-pressure spheres, and fired out in an arc of lances around her front side. Half of the Neoshadows were destroyed on contact, the others were quickly finished off with a fireball sent around her body.

"Aagh!" shouted a very human voice from behind her. Aqua threw up a quick Reflect barrier and turned to face the newcomer. It was a soldier in armor with red accents, carrying his rifle at the ready with one hand. He hadn't been touched by Aqua's fire spell, but he had been surprised by it. "Lady Aqua?" he said uncertainly.

She didn't bother with formalities of titles. "Yeah?"

From one of the pouches on his waist, the soldier pulled out an earpiece with a mic. "I was informed you were to receive one of these. Hit the button on the side, put it on, and report in with your name."

She nodded. "Thanks. You going back eastward?" The soldier nodded. "On three I'm bringing the barrier down, and I'll try to clear you a path. One, two, three!" A Neoshadow leaped for her barrier, and she made it explode into fragments. The soldier went to one knee to steady his aim and depressed the trigger on his Dust-powered rifle. The shots flew out and exploded on contact, throwing debris and black smoke into the air.

"Gaia!" A pillar erupted beneath Aqua vaulting her into the air. She steadied herself and took aim with the tip of the Rainfell. "Demi." Violet spheres appeared and descended upon the monsters, clearing the way for the messenger to keep moving, and that he did down the path. Aqua landed back on the pillar she had made, and hit the power button on the earpiece she had been given. She looped it around her ear, and said in the mic "This is Aqua, reporting in."

She was nearly surprised to hear Ozpin's voice coming through on the comm device. "_Least he was quick on his feet. All Huntsmen and Soldiers are to fall back to form a defensive line on the Grau Square._"

"Fall back, are you crazy? What about the Heartless?!"

"_Aqua, I have no right to command you, but you will be without support if you don't fall back to the line. The Heartless are coming in from the direction of the Southeast gate. This isn't a skirmish, this is increasingly a battle, and the first priority is to protect civilians._"

Aqua gritted her teeth in frustration. "Alright, fine, I'm on it." She looked out at the Heartless, realizing that indeed, they were coming in from a specific direction instead of just teleporting in on the spot. _Maybe they can't open too many Corridors of Darkness at a time, or maybe there's something about the light in this city that keeps them from teleporting in. At any rate, he's right, need to protect people first._ She dropped back to the ground as arcs of fire, lightning, and ice arced around her, destroying any Heartless that came near. She dropped the earthen pillars she had created to clear the way for Huntsmen and soldiers moving back to the line on the Northern entrance to the square. Aqua blocked the shot of a Bit Sniper and threw a lightning bolt back in reply.

She brought up a quick barrier, and opened her mind to examine her surroundings. The humans were all retreating, the Heartless stank with their black essence, and Aqua herself was leaping with energy. She expanded her reach to the buildings and the rest of the square to ensure it was being cleared out.

Just as she felt a twinge of energy, her shield shattered outwards. She scanned the area with her real eyes. _There, under the bench!_ She kicked off the ground and whirled through a crowd of Shadows, and shouted "Firaga!" Flames exploded outwards, and Aqua kneeled to look under the bench.

There, a little girl with wild blonde hair sat huddled in fear. She couldn't have been any more than two or three years old. Her violet eyes showed her terror.

"Hey, I'm Aqua," she said softly. "Come on, I'll get you back to your family."

The little girl sniffled. "The monsters…"

"I can take care of them. I promise, I won't let them hurt you."

The child crawled out from beneath the bench, and Aqua held out a hand. The little girl took it, and said "I'm Yang. My daddy, I don't know where my daddy is!"

"It's okay, we'll find him," Aqua said, and scooped Yang up in one arm, holding out the keyblade with the other. Yang threw her arms around Aqua's neck, tucking her head into the older girl's shoulder. "Just…" Aqua couldn't keep a smile off her face. "Just 'Yang' in there, Yang." She could just barely hear the little girl giggle at the pun.

"Alright," Aqua said, to herself. She held out the keyblade, and slowly walked forward as she carried Yang to safety. Around them, a torrent of light and flames wiped out any Heartless that dared to come near, and within a minute, she had come to the line of soldiers and huntsmen protecting the road ahead. Without a word, they let her through.

With a word of warning, Aqua let Yang down, and she kneeled down to better speak to her. "What's your dad's name?" Aqua said softly.

Yang sniffled again. "My dad is Taiyang Xiao Long," she said firmly. "And my uncle is Qrow."

Aqua nodded. "That's very smart of you, to be able to pronounce such big words." She stood back up, and called out "Taiyang Xiao Long! Taiyang! Qrow!"

"Daddy! Uncle Qrow!" Yang shouted, joining in with the calls.

"Taiyang Xiao—oh!" In the middle of the callout, two men, both equally agitated, came bursting through the crowd. Both were about the same age—one had Yang's blonde hair, and the other heavily reminded Aqua of an old crow resting on a light pole, with a long black coat hanging down from his shoulders and the lines in his face.

"Daddy!" Yang leaped into the blonde man's arms and they hugged each other tightly.

"Oh, my dearest, my light, thank goodness you're safe!" Taiyang shouted aloud, laughing as he spun around with Yang in his arms. He looked to Aqua. "Thank you, thank you so much."

"No problem at all, just keep her safe."

Taiyang turned to Qrow. "I'm sorry, I need to leave you here."

Qrow put a hand on Taiyang's shoulder. "Of course, your family is your first priority. Go. Girl, with me."

Taiyang ran off as Aqua glared at Qrow. "My name is Aqua."

"Aqua, then, I was told a girl with blue hair would do well against these monsters."

"Huh, news travels fast," Aqua said, crossing her arms over her chest. "So what's the plan?"

"The civilian population is moving back behind the lines formed by Emerald Road and the 5th avenue. Lookouts have taken position on rooftops, and teams are being sent in to keep the monsters from moving in through the roads. I've been told to keep the monsters from moving in through the side and flanking."

"The Heartless aren't necessarily smart enough to pull off a flanking maneuver," Aqua said. "Although on second thought, if my suspicions are right, the man commanding them is definitely smart enough to avoid a frontal assault." With a word, she set a magical ward over herself that would reduce the impact of magical weapons. "Lead the way, Qrow."

Qrow turned to face away from Aqua, and he reached to his belt, where a long mechanical device clung to the back of his hips. He grabbed the handle and pulled it from the magnetic plate with a swift tug and set it on his shoulder. With the sound of grinding gears and pushing pistons, the device expanded in length, and a massive curved blade unfolded from the inner workings and locked in place.

With one motion, Qrow retrieved a long magazine from his belt and clipped it onto the side of the scythe. The blade was black steel, so bright you could see the reflection of Qrow's serious expression in its surface.

"Let us move."

* * *

As soon as Aqua and Qrow entered the fray along a wide road just off of the Fifth Avenue, she was struck by the style with which Qrow fought. He effortlessly hefted the massive scythe, spinning it around his arms and over his back to slice apart any Heartless that dared to come near—and those that survived the initial blow were cut to ribbons when he hooked the blade around their neck and pulled the trigger of the sniper rifle built into the gun, both severing the neck of the one in the blade and annihilating the one on the other side of the barrel. His footwork was smooth but fierce, sliding along the ground to shift his weight from one foot to the other in time to a beat that only he could hear. Indeed, in some ways his fighting style was more like dancing.

Qrow pulled to the side as an Invisible came after him, hooked it with the inside of the sniper scythe's blade, and adjusted his grip to be closer to the blade while he whipped around to the rear of the Invisible and planted a foot into its back. In a moment of respite, he scanned the enemies around him, took note of Aqua's position, and pulled the trigger, launching himself skyward. He dropped with his scythe spinning madly around him, cutting apart the Heartless.

Aqua unconsciously found herself imitating his rhythmic fighting style. When an Invisible tried to trap her with its curse, she used Midnight Shine again to dodge and attack with an indigo lance, but instead of letting the magic dissipate she spun the lance with one hand as she leaped backwards, sweeping out with the blade to shear through another sword-wielding Heartless's weapon and body alike. She dropped back to parry a Neoshadow's claws, then swept forward to strike it through, and didn't pause to watch it vanish, but instead used the momentum to head for an Invisible and leap upwards with her keyblade trailing in order to split the Heartless in twain.

So absorbed was Aqua in her fight with the Heartless that she didn't even notice when Qrow was relieved by another Huntsman. She could almost feel herself stepping in time with the beat of her heart, even as it sped up to match her exertion.

Somebody was calling her name, but no matter, she was fine, she could take care of herself. A Neoshadow leaped for her, but she brought up a Reflect barrier. Another Heartless, another barrier. An Invisible crashed through the first but succumbed to the orbs of light produced from it. She breathed heavily, and a pair of Invisibles came at her, one from either side. She parried one, blasted the other, and in her split attention the first's sword slid up the edge of her blade and the tip cut into her face, just above her right eyebrow.

"Agh! Thundaga!" A bolt of lightning struck the Invisible. She reared back and rubbed the blood away from the cut, but it was still getting in her eye. She wiped at it again, and she took up a more defensive position to protect her blind right side. She fended off a group of Shadows, deked away from a Neoshadow that meant to leap up from an inky puddle on the ground at her, and before she could take on any others a wave of energy shots flew from a point behind her to strike the Neoshadow away.

Glynda came up from behind Aqua and gave a stern look from over her glasses. "Your relief is here."

"I'm fine," Aqua said, wiping at her forehead again.

"I'd rather not have to drag you back so your relief can take over," said Glynda.

Aqua grunted something indistinct, and started backing off with Glynda as a boy with bright orange hair and a girl with her hair split into brown and pink halves ran in to take on the Heartless in Aqua's place.

The barricade was relatively flimsy, emergency walls wheeled out and bolted down, but the greatest defense was the defenders themselves—if they fell, the walls would be of little use against Heartless or Grimm. More than anything, it was meant to keep stray shots from harming bystanders, and to keep the same bystanders from running out of the safe areas.

A Huntsman carrying a blunderbuss modified with axe blades in the top and bottom nodded respectfully as Aqua and Glynda passed through.

"Thank you, Port," said Glynda.

"Right, thanks," Aqua said, her heart only half in it. He pulled the gate shut behind them. "Uh, nice to meet you. I'm Aqua."

"Indeed, I've heard your name from the others!" said Port exuberantly, one closed fist held up triumphantly. "A pleasure to meet you!"

"The…others?" Aqua said, tilting her head to the side in confusion as she shook Port's hand. She followed Glynda along, and couldn't miss the occasional nods that soldiers and Huntsmen were paying her. Many looked tired, especially as they came closer to a square with a fountain in the middle of it.

"Word of a warrior of light come back to this world has spread quickly," Glynda said suddenly. "Those who didn't watch you from a rooftop were spreading stories—admittedly, some of them rather embellished."

"How embellished?"

"I heard 'Daughter of the Moon' being thrown around by one of your reliefs, the Torchwick boy with orange hair."

"Fantastic." She wiped her face again. "Ugh, don't suppose you have a mirror? Nevermind, just hold on a second." Aqua stopped in front of a bookstore with the lights out and blinds closed, and used her reflection in the glass to examine the cut on her forehead. "Heal." Watching herself closely in the reflection to ensure she didn't leave a scar, the cut closed up, and she used a quick Water spell to clean the blood off her face. Glynda watched her use the healing spell with interest.

"As much as I may prefer my own Semblance, I wouldn't mind being able to heal like that," she said off-handedly. "At any rate. Would I be right in assuming you've fought half-blind before?"

Aqua nodded. "Yeah. That's really perceptive of you. Yeah, for about one and a half, oh, at least two years, I was blind in my right eye."

"It's hardly anything. The fact is, being a Huntress is your job for life, so I've met no few who have lost eyes, legs, even arms and still refuse to retire. Was it one of those Heartless that took your sight?"

"Oh, I wish it was that dignified." Aqua took a seat on a bench next to Glynda. A civilian child, probably a Huntsman or Huntress's daughter, was going around with bottles of water. Aqua took it gratefully, and downed half of it quickly. "Before I ever started training with my Master, Master Eraqus, I was part of a class of young kids who had all inherited the keyblade at a young age. Thirteen students, seven masters. One day, one of the masters ignited some experimental lightning spell right in my face. When I came to, I was half-blind from the shock and light. Wasn't until I had been my Master's apprentice for a year that a woman came to my world and offered to heal my sight."

Aqua had spoken of it casually, but Glynda was looking at her with shock. "One of your teachers did that to you? While using a technique that they hadn't fully developed on a student?"

"Uh-huh. Though it took me nearly a year before I figured out just how screwed up it was." Aqua leaned against the back of the bench and closed her eyes. "The keyblade wielders…they had their own way of training students. It was apparently meant to teach you to take control of your fate. They taught us that any injuries we sustained were a lesson, and if you were in pain, it was your own fault for not being strong enough to stop it from happening. I got a little healing so the burn on my face wouldn't become infected, but even nowadays it still hurts sometimes."

Glynda shook her head. "Shameful. Truly, that they would ingrain such harsh lessons into the minds of children. Pit a student against a master who has two feet in height, 100 pounds, thirty years more experience on the student, and teach them that it's their own fault if they lose. If you knew it was so wrong, why didn't you leave?"

"Actually, I did." Aqua looked up at the starless sky. "One day, as I looked out at the training ground and saw the same master who had blinded me putting down another girl for failing to accept the lessons, I realized how wrong it was. I had nothing to pack, they allowed us no possessions aside from the clothes on our backs. I stood up, left the bunkhouse, and ran away, far into the jungle of the training ground. I had been away for about three hours when I realized that I had nowhere to go, I had no idea how to get back to my home world, and even if I did get back there I had nobody waiting for me. So I made the slow trip back, and found that while I was gone, the camp had been burned to the ground."

Aqua drank the last of her water, her hands shaking at the old memories. Glynda was silent at her outburst. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have put that on you," Aqua said.

"No, I was the one who asked," said Glynda. She looked to the side, at nothing in particular. A pair of soldiers across the square seemed to be looking at Aqua, sharing whispers. "But…you say you have no place in your home world. If the day comes that you no longer want to be with the keyblade wielders, I think you may be able to find a home here, in Remnant." Aqua's head shot up to stare at Glynda, who continued. "You could attend Beacon, if you like, or if you've tired of fighting, you could teach. Or you could study and use that power of yours to become a doctor."

Aqua covered her eyes with her hand, and while she could keep from crying, her voice cracked as she smiled and spoke. "Thank you, Glynda. You don't know how much that means to me."

* * *

She was forced to stay and rest herself for an hour. Aqua certainly couldn't sleep, and couldn't clear her mind sufficiently to meditate. But she still had other ways to clear her thoughts, and quickly found herself playing with a conjured stream of water between her hands, holding it in midair with a thought. Every so often, somebody would come by. Some only looked, some nodded, and others—mostly younger ones—asked who she was, how she could do what she did, what her sword was called.

"Just a traveler," "Magic," and "Rainfell" were her answers, always. Already she had failed to not leave an impression, but so long as she only stuck to fighting Heartless, an otherworldly threat, she wouldn't technically be going against her Master's teachings, to maintain the world order. She wasn't surprised that people were looking at her, given that the stories of the old keyblade wielders who had abandoned this world were still, to a degree, common knowledge, even if knowledge of the other worlds wasn't. Naturally, for another warrior of light to come to this world and fight for the people of Remnant would be a curiosity.

Aqua turned her head to look out at the moon, and the orb of water she had been manipulating splashed to the ground. Standing on a rooftop, silhouetted against the light of the moon, there stood a man in a black coat, looking out at the defenders.

She stood, and carefully moved past medics, Huntsmen, and soldiers, to climb up the fire escape on the nearest building. At the roof, she summoned her keyblade, and called out to the man in black on the next roof over.

"Hey!"

He appeared to look at her, but only for a moment. Just as quickly, he turned, and held out one hand. A swirling gateway to darkness appeared in the air with the sound of the void.

"Wait, Master Xehanort!"

He stepped into the portal, and the light of the moon blinded Aqua for a moment.

_Remember…the closer you get to light, the greater your shadow becomes._

Her shadow lengthened behind her, and started rising up from the ground of its own volition.

_But don't be afraid._

Her shadow grew taller and heavier, turning into a monster with tangled brambles around its face, heavy arms and thin legs, shining golden eyes, and a gap in its chest where its heart should have been. Aqua backed up away from the Darkside, her hand shaking at the Heartless that was twenty times her height.

She threw the earpiece away—it was just chatter about how the minor Heartless had stopped coming and "_Oh god what is that giant thing!_"

The Darkside brought its hands to its chest, and violet light gathered in the empty space. It raised the sphere, and fiery black missiles burst from the surface of the sphere, homing in straight for Aqua. With easy movements she deflected the missiles, and magical sparks traced along the bottoms of her shoes. In a shower of light, her keyblade turned into a bow with a glowing white string, and she flew across the ground as she loosed arrows at the Darkside. It blocked the arrows like they were little more than needles with one arm, and brought down the other onto the rooftop, knocking Aqua onto her side from the shockwave.

"Fine, like they say, the bigger they are, the harder they fall." She got back up and ran for the Darkside, leaped onto its closed fist, and ran up the length of its arm. With little regard for her balance she struck through the Darkside's head, and it reared back in pain. She used the teeth of the keyblade to dig into the Darkside's shoulder joint and whirl herself around it like she was on the high bar. She flew out forwards and twisted in midair.

"Firaga!" she shouted, and a massive fireball erupted from the tip of her keyblade to strike the monster in the face. With a clap of her hands, a sphere of wind surrounded her, casting her hair out and letting her cloth-of-silver cloak fly out behind her. The Darkside recovered from her attacks, although the arm she had used to get herself into the air was hanging limp. With an agility it hadn't had a moment before, it lunged out and swatted her out of the air like so much as a fly. She yelped as she fell to the ground. The wind spell took the brunt of the hit, but she had still felt the impact.

_I can't let this thing hit me, but it's like nothing I do makes a dent,_ she thought. _I need to get a big hit like the others, but I'm just not built for it._

She charged her keyblade with magic of fire, ice, and lightning, and moved away from the Darkside's swings and flaming missile. It brought down one fist to dig into a violet portal that started spawning Shadows. With a lightning spell Aqua disposed of the minions, and raised her keyblade high in the air.

"If you're going to abuse the privilege of having hands, you're going to lose them!" She brought her keyblade down in a massive executioner's swing, directly on the Darkside's wrist. The combined magic and force of the swing severed straight through the dark matter that made up its body and the lost hand quickly turned to black smoke in Aqua's face. The Darkside roared in pain, went to its knees, and violet light gathered in its gaping chest.

Aqua stood directly in front of it as it prepared its final attack. "Oh no you don't." Blue light ran along the edge of her keyblade. She held the grip with both hands, and with all of her strength she sent it spinning through the air as she declared "MIDNIGHT RAID."

The edge of the keyblade sliced through the Darkside's face, splitting it right in two, and the Heartless exploded into black smoke. Aqua dropped to her knees, and her keyblade fell to the ground, and vanished in a flash of light.

* * *

A Dust shot went off, and Qrow came flying up to the rooftop, and landed smoothly. "Hey, girl, you still alive?"

"I think so, yeah," Aqua said. She pushed herself back up, rolled her shoulders, and checked herself over. "Thanks."

Qrow put one hand up, as he spun his scythe and folded it back up. "I didn't do a thing." He turned to look out beyond the defensive line, and Aqua joined him. "Whatever that big thing was, you destroying it must have broken the morale of the tiny ones. They're all clearing out."

"Or the man controlling them decided it wasn't worth the risk to keep going."

"Hm?"

"It's nothing," she said. Aqua turned back away from the defensive line, and the keyblade came to her hand unbidden.

"Now what's this," said Qrow with curiosity, as he followed her turn and looked out to the moon, still on its rise. Aqua realized that it wasn't like the moon she knew from the Realm of Departure or Twilight Town—somehow, despite still hanging in place where she expected it to be, part of the celestial body was broken off into fragments. The left side of the moon was largely whole, while the right side trailed off to the east.

The surface of the moon shined with an otherworldly glow, and Aqua raised the Rainfell with both hands, as a light appeared at the tip.

In the surface of the moon, a keyhole appeared, and a beam of light connected the tip of her keyblade and the keyhole.

_Dispel_ _the barrier_, she thought, and as she willed it, the keyhole closed with a _click_, and an aurora ran from the northern horizon across the sky, and for the first time in seven hundred years, the people of Remnant saw the stars.

Aqua picked up the comm device from where she had discarded it. "Ozpin," she said lightly. "Thanks for all the help. Good luck—and if the day comes that darkness gathers in Remnant again, I'll be here, I promise." She shut it off before she said something she regretted, and turned to Qrow. "I need to go. The man commanding the heartless…if I'm right as to his identity, my Master may be in danger."

Qrow nodded. "Good luck, Aqua."

Aqua opened a portal to the Lanes Between, and left behind the world of Remnant to return to her Master.

_-But don't be afraid. You hold the mightiest weapon of all._

Aqua didn't know it yet, but she would not return to this world for nearly sixteen years.

_So don't forget: you are the one who will defy the darkness, and clear the way for the light to return._

* * *

_A/N: Lots of RWBY easter eggs here._

_Next chapter is the last._


	9. No Heart

_A/N: Like I said; for Monty._

**Chapter 9: No Heart**

After flying her Glider for seven hours straight from Remnant to the Land of Departure, Aqua felt like passing out, but she had responsibilities to take care of. She landed in the front courtyard, returned her Glider to its proper form, and ran for the front hall. She peeled to a stop in front of the front door, wiped off her face, ran her hands through her hair, and slapped her own cheek.

_The man in the black coat, his aura was so much like Master Xehanort's, and immediately after the black coat left, the giant Heartless appeared. I just have to hope the Master will believe me…_

She pushed open the door, ran up the steps, and nearly cursed out loud at the two men seated at the thrones. Master Eraqus sat at one, and he rose as Aqua entered the hall, smiling at his apprentice's safe return.

Just as the last of the bells announcing an arrival from off-world rung out, she looked to the other man, a smirk playing over his face unbeknownst to Eraqus.

She slowly approached, and went down on one knee in a deep bow as her mind raced at a hundred miles an hour.

_I have to tell him, right?_ _I think he'll believe me, surely he can feel the darkness coming from Master Xehanort? But do I really have any proof, aside from the similarity of their aura?_

She looked up, and locked eyes for just a moment with Master Xehanort. There was a killer instinct in those eyes, and she knew the power that he possessed.

_…When I was on the verge of finding out his identity, he ran. He left behind the assault, with only a single giant heartless to try and take me down. More than anything, he wants to preserve his secret. And if I do accuse him and I'm right, he could kill both of us. Me, easily, and he's defeated my Master before._

"It's good to see you are well, Aqua," said Master Eraqus. "Were you able to find the source of the Heartless incursion?"

Aqua considered her words. "Yes and no. Let me start from the beginning."

She told him of meeting Yen Sid at his tower (leaving out the conversation about what she thought of Master Xehanort), as well as meeting Terra, Kain, Chime, and Luneth in Twilight Town. Master Eraqus raised an eyebrow when she said that she had gone with them down into the tunnels, but said nothing of it, and he seemed unsurprised when she said that Heartless had appeared in the tunnels. She continued on to her and Terra's flight, and him saving her and summoning his own keyblade. That he seemed somewhat more surprised by—but it was nothing compared to his surprise when she spoke of Master Rider, living in the Old Mansion and looking after Twilight Town.

It was Master Xehanort who then interceded. "Interesting. I had thought the keyblade had abandoned Rider when he lost his leg."

She shook her head. "He just uses it in a different style. Like how I can transform my keyblade into a bow, he can use his as a rifle. But I can see why you would be surprised he's still kicking. Apparently, he's got a grudge against the keyblade wielders as a whole, and that's why he's stayed largely out of contact over the past few years. But, I won't speak badly of him, if only because without him I would have never found my next destination."

She told Master Eraqus her theory that whoever was controlling the Heartless had been testing their capabilities, but Xehanort seemed unresponsive to that. She approached the part of the story that she had been dreading.

"While speaking with Master Rider, I brought up a past example of a time when the Heartless attacked the Realm of Light, the Pax Obscura."

Master Eraqus' eyes lit with anger, but he allowed her to continue.

"I went behind your back, and I know that was wrong," said Aqua. She took a deep breath. "But at the same time, if we pretend that a horrible event never happened, history will only repeat itself. What the old keyblade wielders at the time did was so wrong, and knowing what they did, I refuse to carry on that will. I have been personally wronged by the old Masters, who have acted under the impression that they were just carrying on old traditions." She could feel herself getting a headache at the memories. "I'm going to become a master and change things, and I won't let my predecessors get away with doing something wrong out of due to the dead or respect for tradition."

Eraqus had closed his eyes, and nodded. "Continue."

Aqua took another deep breath. "While I was talking to Terra, the keyhole to Twilight Town appeared, and I sealed it. I stayed in Twilight Town for the night, then I went to one of two worlds to survive their Quarantine, a world that lies between light and darkness, Remnant."

She described her time in Remnant, the creatures of Grimm ("My running theory is that when the Quarantine went up, the Heartless adapted to the lack of connection to the Realm of Darkness by becoming more animalistic. At this point, it's safe to say that they've completely lost the ability to manipulate the darkness, even though they maintain the urge to destroy light."), the Huntsmen and Huntresses of Vale, and the sudden attack by the Heartless on the city.

"After I was relieved, I saw a man, standing on a rooftop. I couldn't see any of his features, he was wearing a black cloak, but he looked very similar to the man who I saw running through the Lanes Between. I went up to the roof and he fled, summoning a large Heartless likely with the intent of silencing me.

"The thing is, I never did find out the identity of the man whom I presume to be the one controlling the Heartless, as the attack ceased once he left. But I could feel the man's aura, even for a moment, and from that glimpse, I knew that he was too powerful for me to defeat." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Which is why I have to presume that as much as he may want to experiment with the Heartless, he will abandon that plan, as maintaining the secret of his identity is a far more important priority."

Master Xehanort seemed to not be paying attention to her.

"So, the trail's gone cold," said Master Eraqus.

"Yes, however, I don't believe that the Heartless commander will be a problem," said Aqua. "He's too afraid of his identity coming out. And if I'm wrong, and he continues using the Heartless, then I will take personal responsibility for it."

She didn't look at Master Xehanort, and he did not look at her.

"Very well," said Master Eraqus, with a nod. "Any thoughts, Master Xehanort?"

"It seems your student has done well," said Xehanort. "But, if I may ask a question. You said that you found the keyhole in Twilight Town. Did you also find the keyhole in Remnant?"

"I did," said Aqua with a nod. "It was in the shattered moon of Remnant. And, as I sealed the keyhole, I also removed the Quarantine Zone from Remnant." She wasn't stupid, and realized as soon as Xehanort asked the question what he was going to trying to do. Eraqus sat up straight in his seat when she completed her sentence, but she continued. "I don't think I've ever seen anything quite so beautiful as that moment. You see, the quarantine hid the stars. And watching the spell fall away into an aurora, revealing the light of the stars to the men, women, and children of that city, the hope in their eyes for a brighter future, I knew that I had made the right decision to do as my heart told me to do. But if you believe that I did wrong, then I will take whatever punishment you see fit, Master."

Eraqus was angry, that she knew, from his shaking shoulders and his silence. But in the end, Aqua had done what she believed was right, and didn't regret it—either her actions, or her words.

"You've done well," said Eraqus abruptly. "I will speak to Yen Sid about this boy, Terra. You are dismissed, Aqua."

Aqua stood, and let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. She walked from the Grand Hall, and stopped to calm herself.

Footsteps were coming from the hall behind her. Master Xehanort walked past her, and spoke with his back to her.

"You're smarter than you look, girl," said Xehanort.

"I only did as my heart told me to do," she said. "And if I was wrong, believe me. I will not stop, until I can solve the problem, permanently."

The smirk fell away from Master Xehanort's features as he looked over his shoulder at the keyblade apprentice, staring at him with fierce determination in her eyes.

"Hmph," he grunted, as he walked away from Aqua. Too quietly for her to hear, he said "Too much light in her heart for my purposes. But that boy she mentioned, Terra? Perhaps he might be more persuaded to accept the darkness…"

* * *

Three days after Aqua returned from Remnant, Terra came to the Land of Departure with a bag of spare clothes on his back, a sealed letter clutched in his left hand, and the Earthshaker held easily in the right.

Six months after Terra was chosen to wield the keyblade, a boy with no memories outside his own name, Ventus, was left at the Land of Departure to train under Master Eraqus.

For five years, Aqua, Terra, and Ventus were the closest of friends, training and fighting together, sharing stories and ice cream. Nothing could ever drive them apart.

And then, Xehanort did.

Exactly five years, four months, and twenty-eight days after Aqua sealed the keyhole in the world of Remnant, she found herself on her knees, in fractured armor, holding Ven in her arms as his life faded. His eyes flickered toward her under the thick casing of ice that Xehanort had left him in. Terra was fighting for his life on one of the plateaus. And she sat there, her legs unwilling to move, her spells dead in her mouth.

"Worthless to the end," said the cackling voice of the dark apprentice.

Her gaze drifted upward, to the boy in the mask, then further upward, to the clouded sky above. The sand in the air stung her eyes. The song of sword against sword stopped, and a massive burst of energy echoed across the landscape. She watched, breathing hard, as the clouds parted, and a great heart-shaped moon appeared before her very eyes. She nearly screamed in pain as the light struck her eyes, and she threw a hand to her face as her right eye, always sensitive from the old injury, was blinded again, this time for good.

_But not for long_, she thought, as she set down Ven carefully, and picked up her keyblade. It hung lax in her grip, as she tried to remember how she was supposed to stand to fight.

_This is the end, isn't it?_ She stiffened her grip on the Stormfall. She cried out as she began her assault on the apprentice. _At least now…I won't be alone any more._

.

.

.

The people of Remnant survived and thrived. With the stars returned to them, they fought against the darkness with a renewed hope for the day when they no longer needed to fear the Grimm. And over the years, as their children grew up, the mothers of Vale told their children the story of how the stars were stolen, and returned.

One day, many years ago, the Man in the Moon became envious of the light of the stars. Wanting to be the only light in the night sky, he appeared as a man with a black sword, and with that blade he cut the stars from the sky, and stored them away in his vault.

But the day came, years later, when his daughter the Tide learned of her father's act, took up the black sword, and in her hands it turned into a key. With that key she opened the vault, retrieved the stars, and wove their light into shining cloth-of-silver that the Tide wore on her shoulders as a cloak as she came to earth, fought off the darkness for one night, and returned the stars to the sky. And before the Tide could be thanked, she vanished back into the void from whence she came.

When the night came that a girl in a red hood, sitting on a rooftop with her big sister on one side and their dog on the other, noticed that one of the stars had vanished from its place in the sky, the older sister looked on in uncertainty, while the younger reassured her, knowing that somewhere, the Tide was still out there, searching for the stars that had been lost.

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_A/N: Thanks for reading._


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